Anecdotal clinical experience and a few small studies have previously shown that oxygen therapy may be effective in treating cluster headaches. Now, a new larger study published in the December 9, 2009 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association affirms this notion. Cluster headaches are severe one-sided headaches that can cause tearing in the eye of the affected side, in addition to a stuffy nose. They are called cluster headaches because they tend to come and go with episodes occurring daily at the same time for days to several weeks at a time. The current study demonstrated that 100% inhaled oxygen delivered at 12 liters per minute by a face mask was able to provide adequate relief or complete resolution of a cluster headache in 78% of study patients. Twenty percent of study patients who received regular air were relieved of their headaches. “To our knowledge, this is the first adequately powered trial of high-flow oxygen compared with placebo, and it confirms clinical experience and current guidelines that inhaled oxygen can be used as an acute attack therapy for episodic and chronic cluster headache,” the authors write.
Read more at the Cluster Headache Guide.
Share your comments here.
Follow us on Twitter
Become a fan on Facebook
Dr. Steven Chang, the author of DailyDose, is a staff physician with Kosmix RightHealth. Dr. Chang practices Family Medicine at the University of California Davis Medical Center, where his medical interests include both pediatric and geriatric care, public health, gay and lesbian health, and sleep medicine. Dr. Chang trained at the Stanford University affiliated O'Connor Hospital, and was a research fellow at the National Institute of Health. He holds an M.D. from McGill University and a BA in Public Health from Johns Hopkins University.