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Efficacy and safety of Acupuncture for Migraine Prophylaxis - a multicenter, randomized, controlled clinical trial
ISRCTN ISRCTN49839714
ClinicalTrials.gov identifier
Public title Efficacy and safety of Acupuncture for Migraine Prophylaxis - a multicenter, randomized, controlled clinical trial
Scientific title
Acronym AMP
Serial number at source SF-2005-2
Study hypothesis Acupuncture could be an option to prevent migraine attacks in comparison to standard medicine therapy (flunarizine).
Ethics approval Approved by the Research Ethical Committee of the Beijing Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine on 24/05/2007 (ref: 200704)
Study design Multicentre randomised single blind controlled study
Countries of recruitment China
Disease/condition/study domain Migraine
Participants - inclusion criteria 1. Patients suffering from migraine without frequent aura (more than 2 migraine attacks in 4 weeks), diagnosed according to criteria of the International Headache Society
2. Male or female
3. Aged 18-65 years
4. Patients who had not used acupuncture or drugs with migraine prophylactic effects within the last 3 months
Participants - exclusion criteria 1.Tension-type headache, Cluster headache and other primary headaches
2. Secondary headache and other neurological diseases
3. Neuralgia of the face or head
4. Pregnancy, nursing mother or insufficient contraception
5. Use of prophylactic migraine medication in the last 3 months
6. Therapy with beta-blocker in the last 3 months
7. Intake of antipsychotic or antidepressant drugs
8. Participation in another clinical trial
9. Have family history of depression, Parkinson’s disease and other extrapyramidal diseases
Anticipated start date 01/06/2007
Anticipated end date 30/06/2009
Status of trial Completed
Patient information material
Target number of participants 140
Interventions The 140 migraine sufferers are randomly allocated to two different groups:
1. Treatment group: At least three acupuncture sessions per week and placebo medicine once a day for 4 weeks.
2. Control group: At least three sham-acupuncture sessions per week and medicine (flunarizine) once a day for 4 weeks.

The patients are asked to receive acupuncture 3 times a week. However, those who require will receive extra acupuncture sessions.

Each acupuncture session lasts for 30 min. The dose of flunarizine / placebo is 10 mg per day for 2 weeks and 5 mg per day in the next 2 weeks.
Primary outcome measure(s) The efficacy of acupuncture for migraine prophylaxis was assessed by the following:
1. Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) to assess the severity of migraine pain
2. Short-From of McGill Pain Questionnaire (SF-MPQ)
3. Change in frequency and duration of migraine attacks

The outcome measures above will be assessed before the treatment, at 1 week, 2 and 4 weeks during the treatment, and then every month for 3 months. If necessary, the assessments will be repeated 6 months after the treatment.
Secondary outcome measure(s) 1. Intake of acute-medication
2. Severity of adverse effects
3. Change in the frequency of nausea, vomiting and other correlative symptoms

The outcome measures above will be assessed before the treatment, at 1 week, 2 and 4 weeks during the treatment, and then every month for 3 months. If necessary, the assessments will be repeated 6 months after the treatment.
Sources of funding The Beijing Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Capital Medical Development Research Fund (China)
Trial website
Publications 2009 protocol in http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19389262
Contact name Dr  Linpeng  Wang
  Address No.23 Meishuguanhou Street
Dongcheng District
  City/town Beijing
  Zip/Postcode 100010
  Country China
Sponsor The Beijing Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine (China)
  Address No.5 Xiaoqudeng lane
Meishuguanhoujie
Dongcheng Districk
  City/town Beijing
  Zip/Postcode 100010
  Country China
  Sponsor website: http://www.bjtcm.gov.cn/index.jsp
Date applied 24/05/2007
Last edited 20/07/2009
Date ISRCTN assigned 26/06/2007
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