Placebo-controlled study of traditional Chinese medicine in the treatment of migraine

Objective: To observe the clinical ef ect of traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) in the treatment of migraine. Methods: A multi-center, randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled clinical trial was conducted in this study, 193 cases of migraine patients with common clinical type of syndromes including the syndrome of liver wind with blood stasis and the syndrome of congealing cold with blood stasis were observed, which were divided into treatment group with 129 patients and placebo control group with 64 patients. Besides standard management, treatment group was orally given granules of Chuanxiong Dingtong Yin and necessary analgesics and control group was orally given placebo and necessary analgesics. The two groups were treated routinely for 12 weeks and one time of followup visit after 4 weeks of treatment. The aim was to compare changes of migraine attack times, days, pain extent and TCM syndrome scores between treatment group and placebo group. Results: The TCM treatment group was superior to placebo control group in reducing migraine attack times, days and relieving pain extent(P0.05). After treatment, the scores of TCM syndromes of both groups were improved(P0.05), but no significant difference between the two groups. Conclusion: TCM based on syndrome differentiation have a better therapeutic ef ect in migraine patients.