Impact of Qihuang needle therapy combined with flunarizine hydrochloride for vertigo in vestibular migraine.

OBJECTIVES

To evaluate the impact of QHN combined with FH versus FH monotherapy on vestibular migraine (VM)

METHODS

The study included patients treated for VM with either QHN+FH or FH alone between September 2022 and September 2023 at The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangdong Pharmaceutical University in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China. The primary outcome was the change of Dizziness Handicap Inventory (DHI) before and after 8 weeks of treatment. Secondary outcomes included changes in the Video Head Impulse Test (v-HIT) results before and after 8 weeks of treatment, and the recurrence of vertigo attacks at 4 and 8 weeks post-treatment.

RESULTS

This study included 59 patients, with 29 receiving QHN+FH treatment and 30 receiving FH monotherapy. Both the QHN+FH and FH groups showed significant reductions in DHI scores before and after treatment. After treatment, the QHN+FH group demonstrated an improvement in v-HIT (0.74±0.14 vs. 0.64±0.14, p<0.05), while the FH group showed no significant changes. At 4 weeks, the recurrence rate of vertigo in the QHN+FH group was lower than that in the FH group (13.79% vs. 43.33%), and at 8 weeks, it remained lower (34.48% vs. 53.33%).

CONCLUSION

This study suggested that QHN combined with FH might had a potential advantage in improving treatment outcomes and reducing short-term recurrence of vertigo in VM patients.