Acupuncture for Migraine Prophylaxis (AMP)

• frequency of migraine attacks [ Time Frame: 4th and 24th week after inclusion ] [ Designated as safety issue: Yes ]
  to assess the frequency of migraine attacks at the 4th and 24th week respectively
• headache severity [ Time Frame: 0 day, 4th, 8th, 12th, 16th, 20th, 24th week after inclusion ] [ Designated as safety issue: Yes ]
  to evaluate the change of severity of headache

• MSQ(Migraine Specific Quality of Life Questionnaire MSQ Version2.1) [ Time Frame: the day of inclusion and 4th week after inclusion ] [ Designated as safety issue: Yes ]
  to observe the change of MSQ
• acupuncture expectation scale [ Time Frame: 1 day ] [ Designated as safety issue: Yes ]
  an outcome to indicate the expectation of patient towards acupuncture treatment for migraine

Hypothesis: Acupuncture obtains an abiding effect on migraine prophylaxis Design: A open-label randomized controlled trial. 243 participants will be included. Three arms: acupuncture in acupoint-meridian， non-acupoint-meridian group, and waiting list.

Aim: to attest the abiding efficacy and safety of acupuncture for migraine prophylaxis Design: A open-label randomized controlled trial will be performed in Chengdu, Hunan and Chongqing province. Two hundred and forty-three participants will be randomly assign to acupoint-meridian group, non-acupoint-meridian group, and wait-and-see group. Each participants will receive 20 sessions of acupuncture in 4 weeks, with a duration of 30 minutes in a session. After all the treatments was accomplished, there will be 5 times follow-ups in the impending every 4 weeks. The primary outcome is frequency of migraine attacks 16 weeks after inclusion. Secondary outcomes include frequency of migraine attacks at the 4th and 24th week, headache severity, MSQ(Migraine Specific Quality of Life Questionnaire MSQ Version2.1), etc.

• Migraine Without Aura
• Unilateral Headache

• Experimental: acupoint-meridian group
  Apply traditional acupuncture to prevent the migraine attack according to TCM theory
  Intervention: Other: acupuncture
• sham-acupoint group
  sham-acupoint will be penetrated for migraine prophylaxis.
  Intervention: Other: acupuncture
• No Intervention: waiting list
  No acupuncture nor other methods will be conducted in this group.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Age of a subject is between 18 and 65 years old(initially occured beneath the age of 50), male or female;
• in accordance with diagnosis of migraine without aura in International Classification of Headache Disorders, ICHD-2, by IHS;
• 2 to 8 times attack per month in recent 3 months, with each period beyond 15 days;
• with migraine history for over 1 year;
• be able and willing to finish the headache diary in baseline ;
• informed consent form must be signed by patient or lineal relative;

Exclusion Criteria：

• Patients who are unconscious, psychotic.
• Patients with aggravating tumor and other serious consumptive disease, and who are subject to infection and bleeding.
• With serious primary illness or disease of cardiovascular, liver, renal, gastrointestinal, hematological systems and so on.
• Pregnant women or women in lactation.

• Hunan University of Traditional Chinese Medicine
• Chongqing Medical University