Long-term improvement in refractory headache following ozone therapy

Area of Science:

• Neurology
• Integrative Medicine

Background:

• Headache affects 10-15% of the population, often refractory to standard treatments.
• Current therapies include medications, neurostimulation, and behavioral approaches with mixed efficacy.
• Refractory headaches severely impair quality of life.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the efficacy of ozone therapy in patients with severe, persistent headaches unresponsive to conventional management.
• To assess the long-term impact of ozone therapy on headache frequency, pain intensity, and quality of life.

Main Methods:

• Five patients with refractory headaches received ozone therapy via major autohemotherapy.
• Ozone (O3/O2 mixture) was administered by mixing venous blood with gas and reinfusing.
• Outcomes measured included analgesia needs, sick leave, headache episodes, and Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) pain scores pre- and post-treatment.

Main Results:

• Headache episodes significantly decreased from a pretreatment range of 5-200 to 0-1 within 6 months post-treatment (p=0.042) and 0-2 at long-term follow-up (p=0.043).
• Mean VAS pain scores dropped from 8.7±0.8 pretreatment to 1.1±2.5 post-treatment (p=0.003) and 3.1±3.3 at long-term follow-up (p=0.036).

Conclusions:

• Ozone therapy demonstrated significant and sustained reduction in headache frequency and pain severity.
• This novel approach is effective for refractory headaches and warrants further investigation.
• Ozone therapy presents a potential new therapeutic option for managing difficult-to-treat headaches.