Kampo (Japanese herbal) medicine for primary headache as an acute treatment –a retrospective investigation in Kesennuma City Hospital during 5 years-

Abstract Kampo (Japanese herbal) medicine for primary headaches as an acute treatment has been empirically prescribed, but the evidence is insufficient. Therefore, we retrospectively investigated kampo medicine’s efficacy for primary headaches at 1 week and discussed how kampo medicine works for headaches, referring to previous articles. We prescribed, as needed, kakkonto (TJ-1) for 223 tension-type headaches, goshuyuto (TJ-31) for 93 migraines with or without aura and those with the menopausal disorder, goreisan (TJ-17) for 71 migraines with edema, dehydration (Sui-doku), or associated with weather conditions, and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) for 162 primary headaches between 2015 and 2019 in Kesennuma City Hospital. As a total, 92.0% of the patients’ subjective symptoms improved after 1 week. The ratio of improvement was not significantly different between each kampo medicine and NSAIDs. The follow-up period is short as 1 week, and it is difficult to judge whether the improvement is due to medication, the placebo effect, or spontaneous remission. However, our results suggested that kampo medicine could be an alternative medication as an acute treatment for primary headaches, and our strategy would be applicable to the clinical practice of primary headaches. (187/250 words)