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Effectiveness of Lidocaine Infusion Versus Valproate Infusion for Pediatric Status Migrainosus
Marco Antonio Ayulo1, Sharaya Jenkins2, Thanh Le3
1Divisions of Pediatric Critical Care Medicine.
Insights
Intravenous lidocaine infusion offers faster pain relief and a better safety profile for pediatric status migrainosus compared to sodium valproate. This study highlights lidocaine as a potentially superior treatment option for children experiencing severe migraine attacks.
Area of Science:
- Neurology
- Pediatric Neurology
- Pharmacology
Background:
- Status migrainosus is a debilitating condition in children and adolescents.
- Current treatment options for pediatric status migrainosus have varying efficacy and safety profiles.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare the efficacy and safety of intravenous lidocaine infusion versus sodium valproate infusion for treating pediatric status migrainosus.
Main Methods:
- A retrospective cohort study analyzed 94 pediatric patients with status migrainosus treated with either lidocaine or sodium valproate infusion.
- Data collected included time to pain resolution, pain-free status at discharge, infusion interruptions, and adverse effects.
Main Results:
- Lidocaine infusion resulted in significantly faster pain control (median 11.7 hours vs. 43.4 hours) and higher pain-free rates at discharge (67.7% vs. 44.1%) compared to valproate.
- Valproate infusions had more interruptions (25.4% vs. 3.2%) and a higher incidence of adverse effects (67% vs. 3.2%) than lidocaine.
Conclusions:
- Intravenous lidocaine infusion demonstrates superior efficacy in pain control and a better safety profile for pediatric status migrainosus when compared to sodium valproate infusion.
- Lidocaine should be considered a preferred treatment option for managing severe migraine attacks in pediatric patients.
Objective:
To compare the efficacy (as measured by time to resolution of pain) and safety of valproate infusion and lidocaine infusion in the treatment of pediatric status migrainosus.
Methods:
We conducted a single-center retrospective cohort study from March 2014 to June 2021 evaluating children and adolescents who received a lidocaine or sodium valproate infusion for the treatment of status migrainosus. During the study period, lidocaine infusion was exclusively used before March 2016, whereas sodium valproate infusion was exclusively used afterward.
Results:
A total of 31 patients received lidocaine and 63 received sodium valproate infusion. Patients in the lidocaine group achieved significantly faster control of pain with median hours to pain free of 11.7 (interquartile range, 3.8-32.3) hours compared with 43.4 (interquartile range 13.8-68.7) hours in the valproate group (P = .002). At discharge, 21 of 31 (67.7%) of patients receiving lidocaine were pain-free compared with 26 of 59 (44.1%) of patients receiving valproate (P = .03). There were significantly more infusion interruptions of valproate compared with lidocaine for various patient-related factors (16/63, 25.4% vs 1/31, 3.2%; P = .009). More adverse effects were observed with valproate (42/63, 67%) compared with lidocaine (1/31, 3.2%; P < .001). The significant difference in hours to pain control persisted after adjustment for sex, race, age, BMI, presence of comorbidities, and pain score at admission. All patients in both groups completed the infusions and were discharged from the hospital.
Conclusions:
Intravenous lidocaine infusion is associated with superior pain control and a better safety profile compared with intravenous sodium valproate infusion in status migrainosus.
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