Clinical considerations preliminary to application of the Italian Society for the Study of Headache's guidelines regarding migraine prophylactic treatment

The main goals of prophylactic treatment for migraine are to decrease headache attack frequency, length and intensity, to improve the efficacy of symptomatic drugs, to reduce their need, and to prevent pain chronicization. Therefore, the choice of a prophylactic drug and the modality of treatment is not easy and often not adequately supported by literature data nor by current national and international guidelines. Moreover, the response of the migraine patient to treatment is often unforeseeable. The aim of this short review is to provide some practical suggestions to the physician regarding how to decide when to begin a migraine prophylactic treatment and how to apply the specific guidelines of the Italian Society for the Study of Headache.