ABSTRACT
Objective This clinical study was designed to explore the therapeutic efficacy of dihydroergotoxine for headache at-tributed to ischemic stroke .Methods Seventy eight patients fulfilling the diagnostic criteria of headache attributed to ischemic stroke were enrolled and randomly divided into two treatment group(n=42) and control group(n=36) who took dihydroergotoxine (2 mg twice daily) and placebo respectively .One week for a course of treatment ,had many courses of treatment .Efficacy was as-sessed using the patient′s diary .Results The gender ,age ,stroke aetiology ,admission NIHSS score ,quality and location of headache didn′t differ significantly between the two groups .Compared with the control group ,the duration of headache were shorter in treat-ment group(3 .78 ± 1 .44 vs .4 .88 ± 1 .45 ,P=0 .002) .The severity of headache were lower in treatment group since the third day post ischemic stroke(P<0 .05) .There were no significant side effects during treatment .Conclusion Dihydroergotoxine in treat-ment of headache attributed to ischemic stroke is beneficial to shorten the duration of headache as well as decrease the severity of headache ,and thereby improve the quality of life .