39° Conference of the Italian Society for the Study of Headaches (SISC)

Headaches are an ideal area for an integrated multidisciplinary approach. Headache centres are mainly run by neurologists and child neuropsychiatrists, but also by pharmacologists and algologists, who draw on the indispensable expertise of psychiatrists, psychologists, nutritionists, physiatrists, physiotherapists, dedicated nurses, etc. If we then move from primary headaches to secondary headaches, the list of collaborations becomes very long: it ranges from ophthalmologists, otolaryngologists, dentists, endocrinologists and neurosurgeons, and the list could go on and on. Certainly, in recent years, the spotlight has been focused primarily on the spectacular advances that have been made in migraine prophylaxis therapy, thanks to the discovery of drugs based on the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying pain. However, it remains interesting to evaluate the pathophysiology of the response to traditional drugs, the so-called repositioning drugs, originally designed for other diseases, whose use in migraine occurred by serendipity. There are also non-pharmacological therapies, from neurostimulation to nerve blocks, whose mechanism of action and therapeutic indications still need to be clarified. In addition, there is always a proportion of patients who are refractory even to new specific therapies, which represents a challenge for future therapies. The advent of specific therapies for headaches has sparked interest in a renewed collaboration between basic science and clinical science in the field of headaches, allowing for greater focus to the pathophysiology of these disorders in the “human model”. The latest advances in the field of pathophysiological study and headache therapy will be explored in an interdisciplinary manner at the 39th SISC National Congress, hosted by the city of Parma.

The Conference is approaching! Stay tuned!