Cefalea en racimos: revisión de la literatura

CRD COMMENTARY:

The author provided an overview of the literature rather than a systematic review of the efficacy of the interventions used in the treatment of acute and chronic cluster headache. The review question was adequate, but it did not state clearly the types of study designs that were to be included in the review, or the types of outcome measures that should be assessed. The search was restricted to studies in English, and only two databases and references were searched. It is therefore likely that studies could have been missed. The method of carrying out the review was unclear as it has not been reported. It was also unclear whether the author conducted any validity assessment; it is not possible to ascertain the quality of the studies included in the review or to weight the results by recourse to their quality. The author provided adequate details of the studies included, but for a number of these, data on subgroup of patients were missing and the outcome measures assessed were unclear. Contact with the authors of the primary studies was clearly warranted to clarify the results.
Overall, it is difficult to extrapolate the author's guideline from the results of the studies included in the review, as only three interventions (sumatriptan, pizotifen and leuprolide) showed any overall benefical effect. The guideline to the treatment and prophylaxis of cluster headache should, therefore, be interpreted with caution.