A Pilot Study of Intranasal Lidocaine in Acute Management of Pediatric Migraine

Summary

Headaches in children are very common and are a source of significant distress for the patient and their family. Migraines are the most common headache disorder in children and are associated with episodic pain and other symptoms such as nausea and sensitivity to light and sound that can impair a child's ability to participate in daily activities and lead to missed school or parental missed work. When home treatment fails to relieve symptoms, children often seek care in the emergency department (ED) where a limited number of treatment options exist; while largely effective, these rescue treatments currently all require needle insertion of an intravenous line, take time to administer, result in prolonged ED stays, and have potential unpleasant side effects. In adult patients, a number of studies suggest that lidocaine, a local anesthetic administered intranasally, may provide relief of migraine and migraine-like headache pain in minutes. This approach has the benefit of working quickly, not requiring a needle, and having fewer side effects as the medication acts locally on nerves in the nose. Intranasal lidocaine has not yet been studied in children for this purpose. This study will compare the use of intranasal lidocaine to placebo. The goal of this pilot study is to provide information to inform the sample size calculation for the definitive randomized controlled trial that will aim to measure the efficacy of intranasal lidocaine as an analgesic option for children age 7 years and older who present to the Pediatric ED with a chief complaint of migraine or post traumatic headache with migraine-like features. Secondary objectives will be to report on the frequency and severity of rebound headache between the two treatment groups, adverse events of the study drug, as well as the impact on healthcare utilization measures.The investigators hypothesize that children receiving intranasal lidocaine will have faster and more effective pain recovery compared to children receiving placebo and will be less likely to require the standard therapy for migraine headache. Given very few side effects reported in adult studies and the relatively benign nature of those reported, the investigators do not expect any major safety concerns in the study. It is also hypothesized that intranasal lidocaine will lead to shorter ED visits, thus reducing use of staff and hospital resources and saving money for the healthcare system as a whole.

Conditions

• Migraine in Children
• Posttraumatic Headache

Interventions

DRUG

Lidocaine 2% Injectable Solution

The Barre method of intranasal administration will be used to instil 1mL of lidocaine 2% in either the nostril ipsilateral to the headache or 1ml in each nostril in cases of bilateral headache.

DRUG

Normal Saline Flush, 0.9% Injectable Solution

The Barre method of intranasal administration will be used to instil 1mL of saline 0.9% in either the nostril ipsilateral to the headache or 1ml in each nostril in cases of bilateral headache.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of British Columbia

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Garth Meckler, MD · University of British Columbia

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

TRIPLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

7 Years

Max Age

16 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2019-07-03

Primary Completion

2020-12-03

Completion

2020-12-03

Countries

• Canada

Study Locations