Acute
headache is a very frequent symptom, responsible for a significant percentage of caseload at primary care units and emergency rooms.
Chlorpromazine is easily available in such settings. The aim of this study is to conduct a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind study to assess the efficacy of
chlorpromazine on the acute treatment of episodic
tension-type headache. We randomized 30 patients to receive placebo (10 ml of saline
intravenous injections) and 30 patients to receive 0.1 mg/Kg
chlorpromazine intravenously. We used 7 parameters of
analgesic evaluation. Patients receiving
chlorpromazine showed a statistically significant improvement (p < 0.05 and p < 0.01) of
pain compared to placebo, far up to 30 minutes after the
drug administration. The therapeutic gain was 36.7% in 30 minutes and 56.6 % in 60 minutes. The number needed to treat (NNT, the reciprocal or the therapeutic gain) was 2.7 in 30 minutes and 1.8 in 60 minutes. There were reductions in the recurrence and in the use of rescue medication in the
chlorpromazine group. We can conclude that intravenous
chlorpromazine is an effective
drug to relief the
pain in
tension-type headache.