Initially, 317 subjects were screened, but only 130 subjects proceeded with BTX screening treatment with 25 units in the frontal, temporal, or occipital trigger sites based on where their headaches originated. In the manuscript,

there is no indication why less than 50% of the subjects screened were included in the study. Surgery was only performed after the therapeutic benefit of BTX concluded. Of the 130 subjects, 76 were deemed eligible for the study based on their response to screening BTX injections with a 50% reduction in one of the following: frequency, intensity based on a visual analogue scale,1-10 duration in days, or migraine headache index. The migraine headache index is a number that is

a product of following formula: (frequency X intensity X duration). selleck chemicals llc Of the 76 subjects, 49 received actual surgery, and 26 received sham surgery. In the manuscript, there is no indication why the intervention group was nearly double the size of the control check details group. There is no mention of whether these groups were balanced. There is also no mention as to whether these patients were taking preventative medications or abortive medications during the study. As one could imagine, the introduction of an effective preventative treatment or abortive treatment at any time during the trial could cause a 50% reduction in headache frequency, intensity, or duration of the headaches. For example, if a new triptan is 上海皓元医药股份有限公司 introduced during the postsurgical phase, and headache duration improves from 4 hours to 2 hours, this would be considered a positive surgical outcome. The use of the migraine headache index could further distort what is considered a positive outcome. For example, if a patient experiences

a 17% reduction of migraine frequency, intensity, and duration, a greater 50% reduction in migraine headache index is achieved, which would again indicate a positive surgical outcome. The baseline headache frequency of the subjects in the intervention group was 9.9 ± 6.0 migraine headaches per month and 9.5 ± 4.4 migraine headaches per month in the control group. These numbers would suggest that the overwhelming majority of patients had episodic migraine. As such, a reduction of 1-2 migraine headache days per month could be a surgical success by the author’s criteria since it would be a 50% reduction in frequency for some of the subjects. In addition, the vague terminology of migraine headaches per month does not specify whether these reported numbers represent headaches or days per month, and they also do not specify whether non-migraine headache days are included. Non-migraine headaches in the setting of a subject that has migraines are included in the Revised International Headache Society Criteria for Chronic Migraine, and can contribute significantly to suffering.