In Tuscany it is estimated that at least 365 thousand people suffer from it. Practically one citizen in 10. However, “only” 143,557 of them were correctly diagnosed, i.e. just 39% of all patients estimated in the Region’s guidelines. “It means that more than 60% have migraines but don’t know it and this is one of the main problems of this pathology”, summarizes the professor Gabriele Siciliano, director of the Neurology Operational Unit of the Pisan Hospital. «Because for those who are not doctors, migraine is a headache and can easily be confused with any other form of headache – explains the head doctor -: for example with a tension-type headache, a consequence of cervical arthrosis or incorrect posture , which among other things is much more widespread than migraine but less disabling.”
An error as frequent as it should be avoided: «Because there are different types of primary headaches, each of which has its own therapy, and migraine is just one of these», continues Siciliano. In other words, if a person has migraine but doesn’t know it and treats it using, for example, drugs for a different form of headache, it is certain that there will be no cure or improvement. And it’s a shame because the therapies are there and they work too. The Neurology Operational Unit of Pisa knows this well, where the clinic for the diagnosis and treatment of headaches has been organized since 1992, a reference center for the whole of North-West Tuscany, but also for patients from the rest of the region. and of Italy. «We follow about three thousand a year and 70% of them suffer from migraines», summarizes the doctor Sara Gori, neurologist and head of the clinic. It is here that some of the most effective therapies were tested and later approved by AIFA. This is the case of botulinum toxin type A, «quarterly cycles of injections in 39 different points of the head, neck and forehead, for a total duration of one year», explains Dr. Gori. Or monoclonal antibodies, this too is a therapy based on injections: «One per month subcutaneously and one every three months intravenously for a year».
Be careful, these are not therapies that are right for everyone: the first is aimed at those who are struggling with a form of chronic migraine, i.e. those who suffer from it for more than 15 days a month. The second, however, can also be accessed by those who suffer from it episodically (at least 8 days a month) but provided that they have first experimented without success at least three different therapies with conventional drugs. But they work. «Above all, monoclonal antibodies are a revolution because they have very high efficacy – continues Gori –: approximately 75% of patients experienced at least a significant decrease in the number of migraine days per month, compared to 50% of those who follow conventional therapies». This is why diagnosis is essential. «But for migraines it can only be of a clinical nature – continues Siciliano -: there is no test that can say with certainty whether you have it or not, you have to contact your doctor and then carry out a neurological examination».
For this reason, events such as the Open Day dedicated to migraines a few weeks ago, promoted at a national level by the Onda Foundation, which in Pisa, not surprisingly, took place at the Neurology Operational Unit, become very important. There were individual interviews between the neurologist and the patient and family, with a questionnaire aimed at directing each individual towards the most appropriate therapeutic-diagnostic path. The initiative was organized with the “Bollini Rosa” corporate office led by the doctor Federica Marchetti.
