Botox may ease CSF headaches

Rochester, Minn. - A Mayo Clinic case study suggests that Botox (onabotulinumtoxinA, Allergan) can benefit patients who suffer disabling headaches from low cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), Medical News Today reports.

The study, presented at the American Academy of Neurology meeting in Hawaii in March, involves a patient who had suffered from low CSF pressure headaches for 25 years. Five years ago, she sought help from Mayo Clinic neurologists. She began Botox treatments three years ago.

Neurologists report that improvement lasts about three months, at which time pain returns and another Botox injection is administered.

Medical News Today quotes Michael Cutrer, M.D., the study’s co-author, as saying, “We had been using Botox for several years for treatment of migraine and had been successful in many patients. And because we really didn’t have anything else to offer her, we gave her the Botox. To everybody's surprise she made a remarkable improvement.”

The patient’s headache pain dropped from eight out of 10 on a visual scale to three out of 10. Though not cured, the patient is able to live a more normal life, the authors wrote.