Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol (2014) 271:29312936

DOI 10.1007/s00405-013-2786-4

OTOLOGY

Flunarizine in the prophylaxis of migrainous vertigo:

a randomized controlled trial
Anjali Lepcha Sophia Amalanathan
Ann Mary Augustine Amit Kumar Tyagi
Achamma Balraj

Received: 11 July 2013 / Accepted: 16 October 2013 / Published online: 29 October 2013
Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013

Abstract Migrainous vertigo is a common cause of dizziness presenting to an otorhinolaryngology/otoneurology

clinic. Although it causes a substantial burden to the
individual and society there are no randomized controlled
trails on prophylactic medication for this condition. Flunarizine, a calcium channel blocker has been used effectively in both migraine and vestibular conditions. This
randomized control trial was undertaken in a tertiary academic referral center to evaluate the efficacy of flunarizine
in patients with migrainous vertigo when compared to nonspecific vestibular treatment of betahistine and vestibular
exercises. The effect of flunarizine on two particularly
disabling symptoms of vertigo and headache was studied.
A total of 48 patients who were diagnosed with definitive
migrainous vertigo completed the study of 12 weeks
duration. Patients in arm A received 10-mg flunarizine
daily along with betahistine 16 mg and paracetamol 1 gm
during episodes, and arm B received only betahistine and
paracetamol during episodes. Symptom scores were noted
at the start of the study and at the end of 12 weeks. Analysis of the frequency of vertiginous episodes showed a
significant difference between arm A and arm B
(p = 0.010) and improvement in severity of vertigo
between the two groups (p = 0.046). Headache frequency
and severity did not improve to a significant degree in arm
A as compared to arm B. The main side effects were
weight gain and somnolence and this was not significantly
A. Lepcha (&)
A. M. Augustine
A. K. Tyagi
A. Balraj
Department of ENT, Unit IV, Christian Medical College and
Hospital, Vellore 632004, Tamilnadu, India
e-mail: anjalilepcha@yahoo.com
S. Amalanathan
Department of ENT, Indira Gandhi Medical College and
Research Institute, Puducherry 605609, India

different between the two groups. Flunarizine (10 mg) is

effective in patients with migrainous vertigo who suffer
from considerable vestibular symptoms.
Keywords Flunarizine
Migrainous vertigo

Episodic recurrent vertigo
Migraine disorder

Prophylaxis

Introduction
Patients with migraine often complain of dizziness or
vertigo during or in between attacks. Various terminologies
have evolved to describe this condition such as migraineassociated vertigo, migraine-related vestibulopathy, vestibular migraine, or migrainous vertigo [14].
Migrainous vertigo (MV) can be defined as a vestibular
syndrome caused by migraine that can present as spontaneous or positional vertigo lasting seconds to days,
accompanied by migrainous symptoms [1]. Like migraine,
MV is a diagnosis by exclusion and cannot be diagnosed by
specific tests. An operational clinical criterion (definite and
probable) has been proposed based on the IHS classification of headaches [1]. Various authors have emphasized the
migrainous origin of episodic vertigo that can occur even in
the absence of headache [1, 5, 6]. Vestibular migraine has
been recognized as a separate entity from migraine with
brainstem aura (earlier basilar migraine) only recently. A
new set of diagnostic criterion has been proposed jointly by
the Committee for Classification of Vestibular Disorders of
the Barany Society and the Migraine Classification Subcommittee of the International Headache Society (IHS) [7].
A diagnosis of vestibular migraine is considered in the
presence of vestibular symptoms of any type, history of
migraine and a temporal association between the two, all

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other causes of vestibular symptoms having been ruled out

[8].
Vestibular symptoms in MV can be quite debilitating,
but the current evidence for both acute and prophylactic
treatment consists of a few studies on the successful use of
prophylactic anti-migraine medications [9]. Earlier studies
have been non-randomized trials in the western population
[10]. Flunarizine is a selective calcium channel blocker
indicated as a maintenance treatment for classical and
common migraine [1113]. The side effects of flunarizine
are minimal and infrequent, and good compliance has been
reported because it is taken as a once a day dose. The main
side effects of weight gain and drowsiness are similar to
propranolol, another drug with proven efficacy used in
migraine prophylaxis [14, 15]. Although extrapyramidal
side effects have been reported earlier in calcium channel
blockers (CCB) including flunarizine, more recent studies
have not shown an association between parkinsonism and
CCB [16, 17]. The efficacy of flunarizine in migraine
headache prophylaxis has been confirmed in both open and
controlled trials [18].
A search of English literature showed no randomized
controlled studies evaluating the effectiveness of flunarizine with respect to MV. Hence, the purpose of this study
was to evaluate the effectiveness of flunarizine in the
prophylaxis of MV in a cohort of patients.

Materials and methods

This study was carried out in the audiovestibular clinic at
our tertiary care referral hospital after obtaining clearance
from the institutional review board and ethical committees
and done in accordance with the ethical standards laid
down in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki. Patients who
attended this clinic between July 2010 to August 2011 with
complaints of headache and vertigo were assessed using a
structured, pretested questionnaire (Appendix). This
self-reported questionnaire was used to obtain information
about the type and duration of headache, aura if present and
vestibular symptoms. It also assessed the severity and
frequency of headache and vertigo: the two most disabling
symptoms of MV. A numbering system was used, based on
patients perception of frequency and severity of headache
and vertigo symptoms. The patient chose 1 score out of 6
scores for frequency of symptoms. High-frequency scores
were 14 (where score 1was[5 episodes/week, 2 was 34/
week, 3 was 1/week, 4 was 23/month,) low-frequency
scores were 56 (where 5 was 23/3 months, 6 was \2/
3 months.) For reporting severity of symptoms, the patient
chose 1 out of 5 scores. 1 was extremely mild symptoms, 2
was mild, 3 was moderately severe, 4 was severe and 5 was
extremely severe.

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Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol (2014) 271:29312936

Ear, nose, throat and neurotological examination was

done followed by specific audiovestibular investigations
and imaging when required. Fifty-two consecutive patients
between the age of 18 and 75 who were diagnosed as MV
based on the Neuhauser et al. [1] criteria were enrolled in
this study after they gave an informed written consent.
Patients with associated benign paroxysmal positional
vertigo, Menieres disease, chronic discharging ear, past
history of ear surgery, profound hearing loss, stroke,
intracranial tumors or those on calcium channel blockers
for hypertension were excluded from the study.
On the assumption that specific prophylactic treatment
for migraine would reduce symptoms by 80 % and that
symptomatic treatment in the control arm would reduce
symptoms by 40 %, an estimated 24 patients per arm
would be required to provide a result with a 95 % confidence interval for a power of 80 %. Informed consent was
obtained from all patients prior to their recruitment.
Patients were subsequently block randomized (blocks of 4)
into two treatment arms, A and B using computer-generated random numbers. Allocation of patients into the two
arms was done by the primary investigator based on the
computer-generated numbers. Initial evaluation and follow-up of these patients were done by clinicians working in
the unit including the primary investigator.
Patients in treatment arm A received 10-mg flunarizine,
once daily at bed time. Betahistine 16 mg thrice a day for 48 h
was given with the onset of a vertiginous attack, and paracetamol 1 g was taken for acute attacks of headaches. Patients
in treatment arm B received symptomatic treatment with
betahistine and paracetamol like in arm A. Both groups were
instructed to carry out active vestibular exercises. All patients
were reviewed at the end of 12 weeks and their symptoms of
vertigo and headache were reassessed using another questionnaire. Patients were not shown their previous scores and
asked to mark based on recall of symptoms in the preceding
12 weeks. An additional score was added to evaluate the
improvement of symptoms. For reporting improvement of
severity of symptoms the patients chose 1 out of 5 scores.
Little improvement scores were 02, marked improvement
scores were 3 and 4 where 0 was no improvement, 1 was mild
improvement, 2 was moderate improvement, 3 was excellent
improvement and 4 was completely asymptomatic. Any
adverse effects were also noted.
The results were analysed using SPSS version 16.0.
Tests of significance were done using Fishers exact test
and Chi-square test.

Results
The demographic profile of the subjects enrolled is given in
Table 1, and age and sex distribution of subjects is given in

Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol (2014) 271:29312936

2933

Table 1 Demographic profile of patients in the study

Frequency

Percentage

Male

18

34.6

Female

34

65.4

Total

52

100

Sex

Age
B24 years

12

23.1

2534 years

23

44.2

C35 years

17

32.7

Total

52

100.0

Table 2 Age and sex distribution of subjects in the treatment arm

and control arm
Treatment arm
(Arm A)

Control arm
(Arm B)

Total

p value

0.77

Sex
Male

10

18

Female
Total

16
26

18
26

34
52

Age
B24 years
2534 years
C35years
Total

12

14

23

11

17

26

26

52

0.28

Fig. 1 Frequency of various

associated symptoms that occur
during a typical attack

Percentage of patients

Table 2. There was no statistical difference between the

two groups in terms of sex distribution (p = 0.770, Chisquare test) and age distribution (Chi-square test,
p = 0.28). All 52 patients studied had headache and vertigo. There were 23 patients (44 %) between 25 and
34 years, and 65 % of subjects were females. The mean

age of onset of MV irrespective of gender was 32 years of

age. Figure 1 shows the frequency of associated symptoms
such as visual, olfactory, motor and sensory aura that
occurred along with the MV attacks. Visual aura (experienced in 85.4 % of patients) was the commonest associated
symptom followed by other associated symptoms such as
phonophobia (75 % of patients) and photophobia (68.8 %
of patients), numbness and tingling (31.5 % of patients).
Olfactory aura described as a distortion/perceiving strange
odors preceding or accompanying an attack was present in
20.8 % of patients. Tinnitus was an accompanying symptom in 19 % of patients and a similar number had fluctuating hearing levels during attacks. Decreased levels of
vigilance (described by patients as being sleepy/foggy and
unclear headed) were experienced by 41.6 % and motor
weakness by 18.8 % of patients. Dizziness with headaches
was experienced by 79 % of patients and 66 % had associated imbalance during attacks.
Headache lasted less than an hour in 18 (34.6 %)
patients and in 17 (32.7 %), it lasted more than 24 h.
Headaches of at least moderate to severe intensity were
reported in 77 % of subjects.
Of the 52 patients initially enrolled, 48 completed the
study. One patient from Arm A and three patients from Arm
B were lost to follow-up even after numerous attempts were
made to contact them both via telephone as well as by post.
Therefore, 25 patients in Arm A completed the study and 23
in Arm B. Table 3 shows vertigo and headache symptoms at
3 months of follow-up in the treatment and control arms.
Analysis of the difference in frequency between the episodes of vertigo before and after treatment in both arms
showed significant improvement in Arm A compared to
Arm B (p = 0.010, Fishers exact test). There was an
improvement in the severity of vertigo after treatment in
arm A compared to Arm B (p = 0.046, Fishers exact test).

90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0

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Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol (2014) 271:29312936

Table 3 Comparison of vertigo and headache characteristics post

treatment in the treatment and control arms
A

p value

Vertigo frequency
High frequencya

11

14

Low frequencya

22

12

34

Total

25

23

48

12

22
25

14
23

36
48

0.010

Improvement in vertigo severity

Little improvementb
Marked improvement
Total

0.046

Headache frequency
High frequencya

10

18

Low frequencya

17

13

30

Total

25

23

48

0.38

Improvement in headache severity

Little improvementb

10

16

Marked improvementb

19

13

32

Total

25

23

48

0.22

A is the treatment arm and B is the control arm

a

High frequency (scores 14), low frequency (scores 56) where

score 1 is [5 episodes/week, 2 is 34/week, 3 is 1/week, 4 is 23/
month, 5 is 23/3 months, 6 is \2/3 months

Little improvement (scores 02), marked improvement (scores 3, 4)

where 0 is no improvement, 1 is mild improvement, 2 is moderate
improvement, 3 is excellent improvement and 4 is asymptomatic

Follow-up of both arms in terms of frequency and

severity of headache attacks of the study group is shown in
Table 3. Arm A with the flunarizine prophylaxis had better
outcomes at follow-up at 3 months, but the differences
were not significant.
Side effects Out of the 48 who completed the study, 8
complained of side effects. 6 (24 %) of the flunarizine
group had side effects and 2 (9 %) in the control group. In
five subjects somnolence was noted, four of who were from
arm A and one from arm B. Three complained of weight
gain, of which two were in arm A and one in arm B. One
subject from the flunarizine group who had weight gain
also complained of acne. These side effects were not significant enough for the subjects to stop the study mid-way.
A comparison of side effects did not show any significant
difference between the two groups (p = 0.248, Fishers
exact test), Table 4.
Table 4 Comparison of side effects between the groups
One or more
adverse effects

No adverse
effects

Total

p value

Arm A

19

25

0.248

Arm B

21

23

Total

40

48

123

Discussion
Migrainous vertigo is not a rare entity and its prevalence
has been reported as 7 % in a dizziness clinic group and
9 % in a migraine clinic group [1]. It is difficult to
determine the prevalence of MV mainly because the entity
by itself is an evolving concept, and internationally
approved diagnostic criteria were published only in 2012
[8]. The criteria used in this study were proposed by
Neuhauser et al. [1]. Definite MV accounted for only a
third of migraineurs with a history of vestibular vertigo. In
general, the prevalence of MV was higher among women
and highest in the reproductive age group. The demographic profile of our patients (Table 1) are similar to
other studies [19]. At the age of onset of migraine
symptoms, the severity of headache was more and this had
attenuated over time when compared to that of vertigo
which had become more severe. This type of pattern in the
natural course of the disease has been mentioned earlier
[20]. Absence or attenuation of migrainous headache
during vertiginous attacks may be due to an interaction of
vestibular and trigeminal mechanisms [21]. We found that
52.6 % of patients who described their vestibular symptoms as severe also experienced photophobia, phonophobia, visual and other sensory and motor auras. These
phenomena may be of diagnostic importance as they may
represent the only apparent association between vertigo
and migraine. Auditory symptoms and sensorineural
hearing loss in MV are less frequent when compared to
vestibular symptoms [22]. The duration of vertigo attacks
was shorter when compared to that of headaches which
tend to last longer; however, the frequency and severity of
the vertigo spells were comparable to that of the headache.
Vestibular symptoms in MV were manifest as lightheadedness, dizziness, unsteadiness and also spinning type
of vertigo.
Although MV is a common cause of dizziness in
patients, there are very few studies that deal with the
prophylactic treatment of this entity. MV may respond to
the same medications used to treat migraine headaches, but
there is limited data on this [23]. A small randomized trial
using zolmitriptan for aborting attacks in these patients
showed inconclusive results due to the limited power of the
study [10]. Acetazolamide has been reported to improve
symptoms in familial migraine with vertigo and tremor
[24]. It has also been found to be useful in MV in familial
hemiplegic migraine [25]. Retrospective studies on patients
who fit the criteria for MV have shown varying levels of
benefit with drugs such as beta blockers, calcium channel
blockers, tricyclic antidepressants, cyproheptadine, anticonvulsants and benzodiazepines. These have been used
either singly or in various combinations; pharmacological
therapy has also been used in association with dietary

Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol (2014) 271:29312936

changes, lifestyle modifications and avoidance of triggers

[9, 2630].
Betahistine, a H1 receptor agonist and H3 receptor
antagonist, has been found efficacious in the treatment of
vestibular vertigo [31]. Vestibular rehabilitation therapy
has also been shown to be beneficial in patients with
migraine-associated dizziness irrespective of the etiology
[32]. These two modalities of treatment are widely used in
the management of vestibular disorders.
Flunarizine, a calcium channel antagonist, has been used
with some success in the treatment of both migraine and
vertigo. Experimental and clinical trials have shown
encouraging effects on vestibular disorders in the past [33,
34]. Some of these disorders could have included MV, as
the definition of this entity is still evolving. Flunarizine has
been shown to objectively reduce vertigo symptoms in
vestibular neuritis [35]. It has been used with good results
in the treatment of migraine prophylaxis in both in adult
and childhood migraines [11, 12, 18, 3639].
The mechanism of action of flunarizine in migraine
prophylaxis is still controversial. It has been suggested
that blockage of sodium and calcium channels by flunarizine could help explain its ability to control cortical
excitability in migraine which is essentially considered a
channelopathy [40]. Li et al. [41] have stated that flunarizine helps to prevent cerebral mitochondrial injury in
cortical spreading depression in both hypoxic and normoxic conditions.
Majid Fotuhi et al. in their review article have suggested
that the treatment response should be evaluated after
3 months with [50 % reduction in attack frequency being
a realistic goal [9].
Overall, all patients in the group treated with flunarizine improved after 3 months and this was assessed with
regards to the specific crippling symptoms of vertigo and
headache. Accompanying symptoms and aura were
described during the start of the study as part of disease
evaluation, but the effects of treatment on these were not
studied. While the improvement of vertigo symptoms
were statistically significant, this was not so in case of
headache symptoms. Although headache symptoms
improved, the difference was not statistically significant.
One possible explanation is a reporting bias in our study,
as this study was done among patients who presented to
an audiovestibular clinic with primary complaints of
vertigo. The results from this study show that in patients
with MV treated with flunarizine, betahistine and vestibular exercises there is significant improvement in vertigo control when compared to those who only received
betahistine and vestibular exercises. More randomized
double-blind controlled trials are needed to study combinations of flunarizine with other antimigrainous drugs
in MV.

2935

Conclusion
Flunarizine (10 mg) is a useful drug in patients with MV,
especially in those who have significant morbidity due to
their vestibular symptoms. Severity and frequency of
headache in MV are reduced to a less significant extent by
Flunarizine. Compliance is good and side effects are
minimal. We recommend the use of flunarizine as a first
line of treatment in patients who suffer from MV and in
whom vestibular complaints are considerable.
Acknowledgments The authors would like to gratefully acknowledge the contributions of Professor Vinohar Balraj and Ms. Visali in
the statistical analysis of this article. This study was supported by
funding from the Fluid Research Grants, CMC Research, Vellore.
Conflict of interest The authors declare that they have no conflicts
of interest.

Appendix
This questionnaire was based on a similar one used for a
previous study of vestibular deficits among clinically
defined subgroups of patients with both migraine and
vertigo attending tertiary referral neuro-otology clinics.
(By AB under the guidance of Dr Ros Davis and Prof
Goadsby in National hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, Queens Square, London, submitted as partial
fulfilment of the requirements for MSc. in Audiological
Medicine, University College London.)

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