Luz Saúde : Headache Consultation Available at Hospital da Luz Coimbra

Headache Consultation Available at Hospital da Luz Coimbra

12-03-19

Hospital da Luz Coimbra has now available a headache consultation, under the coordination of neurologist António Freire Gonçalves. It is estimated that about a million Portuguese suffer from migraine, 'a disease still underappreciated', as explains the specialist, this consultation arising with the purpose of 'providing special and differentiated guidance in the area'.

Migraine is a type of primary cephalea, characterized by intermittent moderate to acute headache episodes (of variable duration, between hours to days). A headache crisis can be triggered by various factors (environmental, behavioural, hormonal, medicational, dietary or other), being a quite common complaint in medical consultations and a frequent cause of absenteeism. It is actually classified by the World Health Organization as the main cause of neurologic incapacity.

The headache consultation from Hospital da Luz Coimbra views an integral approach of the patient, therefore including a multidisciplinary team consisting of neurologists, psychologists and nurses, also counting with the support of the Medical Imaging Service. This consultation 'enhances our level of response, ensuring the subspecialization and multidisciplinarity of teams', stresses Filipe Caseiro Alves, the clinical director of the hospital.

The launching of this new consultation at Hospital da Luz Coimbra was highlighted with a clinical meeting on 'the new strategies in migraine therapeutics', that gathered several specialists and where neurologist Sónia Batista presented a new therapy: anti-CGRP monoclonal antibodies. These 'represent the first treatments specifically developed for migraine, the clinical trials proving them effective and safe', stated the neurologist.

Erenumab is one of those monoclonal antibodies and is already available for use in the headache consultation, at Hospital da Luz Coimbra. The purpose is to 'reduce frequency, duration and/or severity of crises, diminish dependency and use of therapeutics in the acute phase and increase the patient's functional capacity', explains, on the other hand, António Freire Gonçalves.

It is worth noting that the treatment with botulinum toxin in case of chronic migraine is also available in this hospital.

In the photo above, Pedro Beja Afonso (executive-manager of Hospital da Luz Coimbra), Sónia Batista and António Freire Gonçalves.