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Intravenous versus rectal prochlorperazine in the treatment of benign vascular or tension headache: a randomized,
S H Thomas1, C K Stone, V G Ray
1Department of Emergency Medicine, East Carolina University School of Medicine, Greenville, North Carolina.
Study Objective:
To compare the effectiveness of i.v. and PR prochlorperazine for treatment of acute benign vascular or tension headache.
Design:
Prospective, randomized, double-blind trial.
Setting:
University emergency department with 50,000 annual census.
Participants:
Forty-five adult patients enrolled on 46 visits.
Interventions:
Patients received 10 mg prochlorperazine i.v. and placebo suppository or 25 mg prochlorperazine PR and placebo injection. Pain assessment was made using a 10-cm visual-analog scale; scores were analyzed using Wilcoxon/Kruskal-Wallis rank-sum tests (alpha of .01).
Results:
Mean 60-minute pain scores for i.v. and PR groups were 0.6 and 3.5, respectively (P = .0002). Two patients (8.7%) in the i.v. group and six patients (26.1%) in the PR group required rescue analgesia (P = .12).
Conclusion:
i.v. prochlorperazine appears to provide more effective relief than PR prochlorperazine for benign vascular or tension headaches.