Headache clinical trials at UCSF

3 in progress, 2 open to eligible people

A headache is a pain in the head. UCSF is testing how migraine medicine in breastmilk affects mothers and their children. UCSF is also evaluating different headache treatments for children to understand which is most effective.

Showing trials for

  • Responding With Evidence and Access for Childhood Headaches

    open to eligible people ages 10-17

    This comparative effectiveness study will clarify current first-line preventive treatment approaches for use by neurologists, psychologists, and primary care providers in the context of real world care, and will demonstrate the feasibility of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) via telehealth for youth with migraine. The focus is on applying evidence-based care and enhancing access to it. CBT via telehealth while taking a clinically-prescribed, pill-based prevention therapy (amitriptyline) will be compared to CBT via telehealth alone.

    San Francisco, California and other locations

  • Emgality for Migraine in Breastmilk

    open to eligible females ages 18-45

    The goal of this project is to evaluate galcanezumab transfer into maternal breastmilk, and to evaluate infant (growth, development, constipation, colic, infections) and maternal (headache) outcomes for dyads in which the mother was treated with galcanezumab and to compare outcomes for infants who were or were not breastfed after maternal treatment. In this prospective observational study, the study team proposes to prospectively collect serial milk samples from 30 adult women who are treated with galcanezumab for migraine. Mothers who are interested in participating will be connected with us, the main clinical site, by neurologists across the USA. Mothers must carry a diagnosis of migraine, be aged 18-45 years, and be between 14 days and 9 months postpartum, and still nursing, at the time of enrollment. This study will fill a significant unmet need as women of childbearing potential are over-represented in the migraine population, and yet they are excluded from clinical trials of migraine treatments during pregnancy and lactation.

    San Francisco, California

  • IA Lidocaine and Methylprednisolone for Headache Associated With Subarachnoid Hemorrhage

    Sorry, not yet accepting patients

    Subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) is a type of bleeding around the brain that can cause sudden and severe headaches. These headaches can be debilitating and persist for weeks, significantly impacting a patient's comfort and recovery. Many patients require opioids for pain control, which can lead to side effects such as drowsiness, constipation, and dependency. There is a need for new treatment strategies to help relieve this pain while minimizing side effects. This clinical study is designed to evaluate whether an injection of two medications (lidocaine and methylprednisolone) directly into the middle meningeal artery (MMA) can help reduce headache severity in patients who recently experienced a SAH. The medications will be given through a minimally invasive procedure performed during a routine angiogram, a type of imaging test already commonly used in SAH patients. The main goals of the study are to determine whether this treatment approach is safe, helps to reduce the severity of headaches, and decreases the need for opioid pain medications. Eligible patients will be those recently diagnosed with persistent headache symptoms and SAH who are undergoing routine cerebral angiogram, during which the medications are infused into the MMA. Participants will be monitored for pain levels using the Headache Impact Test (HIT-6) and for changes in their functional recovery using standard neurologic scales. The results of this study may provide early evidence to support new treatment options for patients suffering from difficult-to-control headaches after a SAH.

    San Francisco, California

Our lead scientists for Headache research studies include .

Last updated: