Electroceutical Device To Provide Relief To Migraine Patients

The pharmaceuticals industry has once again used technology to spawn a new field called Electroceuticals. This new type of medicine therapy, that might seem like old wine in new bottle concept, uses electrical signal stimulation to treat ailments. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has given a green signal to Cefaly, a device that uses electrical signals to stimulate cranial nerves to treat migraines.


Belgian company STX-Med, the manufacturer of Cefaly has already been selling the product in countries of Germany, Canada and Australia. Cefaly is a headband or tiara shaped device that uses a 20-minutes per day sessions in people that cannot tolerate or do not respond to medication. It works by stimulating the Trigeminal nerve which is associated with migraine headaches. The Trigeminal nerve performs the function of carrying the sensory information of a person's face to the brain. The mechanism of this device is based on the Gate Control Theory of Pain | HowStuffWorks. This theory provides an explanation of a common human behaviour- rubbing the elbow after hurting it. The sensory stimulus overrides the brain stimulus, transmitting the sensory information via different neural pathways. Similarly, Cefaly keeps the neural gates closed to a pain input, in this case, the headache pain input, thus providing some relief to a migraine patient.
The FDA gave approval to Cefaly based on different surveys conducted in Europe. A study published in the Neurobiology magazine highlighted the use of device in 67 patients. The patients who used Cefaly reported significantly lower migraine headaches over a period of one month against users which used a placebo device. However, in the beta testing of the device, only 54% of the users were reported to being interested in buying the product. Those who said so were reported to use Cefaly only half the time recommended. Maybe the unconventional headband/tiara design was proving to be a turn-off for the users.


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