Aspirin injection could be used for migraine healthcare plan

A high dose of aspirin injected directly into the bloodstream could be an affective part of a healthcare plan to treat migraines, scientists have claimed.

According to a new study by researchers at the University of California's Headache Center, the technique could significantly reduce the pain felt by migraine sufferers during an attack in 25 per cent of cases.

Published in the journal Neurology, the study saw scientists administer intravenous aspirin doses to 168 migraine sufferers.

They were each given one gram of aspirin, around ten times the amount most people take to relieve mild pain such as that from normal headaches.

In a quarter of cases, patients reported a drop of three points or more on the ten-point pain scale.

Dr Peter Goadsby, director of the Headache Center and lead investigator of the study, said: "We hope to make this inexpensive therapy more available to patients seeking treatment for severe pain."

It follows the recent news that researchers at the University of Oxford have discovered a faulty gene that they believe to be responsible for causing migraines, which affect around 15 per cent of adults in the UK.

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