[Feverfew as a prophylactic treatment of migraine]

Feverfew has been used in traditional medicine in the treatment of migraine for a long time. In 1985 E.S. Johnson et al. and later J.J. Murphy et al., 1988 and B.K. Vogler et al., 1994 published positive results of prophylactic use of this herb in migraine. Since 1994 through 1996 we studied in our Centre of Migraine Therapy the efficacy of feverfew in migraine treatment. We had 24 patients (women 19-61 years old) in our group. The drug was administered once daily (5 ml of the sap) for 30-60 days. We observed significant reduction of Migraine Index in 8 patients, less significant in additional 5. Our results confirm that feverfew may be beneficial in migraine prophylaxis as an additive drug. Further controlled studies need to be done, especially to establish the optimal dose of the drug.