Abstract

The first priority in migraine treatment is to optimize acute treatment. But there remains a significant group of migraine patients with unsatisfactorily treated attacks. Prophylactic treatment is indicated if the migraine attacks are severe enough to impair the patients' quality of life or if the patient has more than 2 to 3 migraine attacks per month that fail to respond adequately to symptomatic therapy. Preventive medication is usually given daily for months to years. The medications can be divided into two major categories, the first-line and second-line choices. The choice of drug depends on the individual drug's efficacy, side effects and the presence of any comorbid or coexistent disease. Korean Journal of Headache 2(1):1-9, 2001