DOCTORS' BLOG

Children and adolescents experience headaches as do adults and usually present with migraine and chronic daily or tension-type headaches. As some adolescents are unable to achieve headache relief after various treatment strategies, botulinum toxin type A (Botox) injections as a clinical treatment are availabe in selected cases. Botulinum toxin type A by injection has been found to be effective in the treatment of headache disorders in adults. A recent study treated 12 adolescents (aged 14 to 18 years) with Botox injections for migraine and chronic daily headache. Six patients (all female adolescents) were in long-term treatment and received Botox in the standard “migraine” and “follow-the-pain” patterns every 3 months. Effectiveness was evaluated using pain scales and a standardized quality-of-life survey at baseline and prior to each treatment session. Duration of treatment was 3-29 months. Each patient had 9-63 (average = 42) injections per treatment. All 6 long-term patients reported improvement in headache symptoms, with decreases on pain scales and an average of 33%-75% improvement in quality of life. Two long-term patients had complete relief of headaches between injection series. Four patients had only one series of injections with good results. Two patients had no improvement and refused additional injections. Consequently, Botox may be an effective treatment option for certain adolescents with intractable migraine and chronic daily headaches.