What the trials found
Updated — new results
For clinicians
Post-traumatic headache: what the trials found
In a phase 4 trial of 162 patients, dexamethasone did not reduce the frequency of moderate or severe headache after emergency department discharge (31; 29; 42; 44, p=0.751) or post-concussive symptoms (8; 9, p=0.650) 1.
Metoclopramide was studied in a phase 3 trial of 160 patients, with headache days reported as 3.3 in both comparison groups 3.
A phase 2 trial of metoclopramide enrolled 21 patients, but no outcome results were reported 7.
A phase 4 trial of prazosin enrolled 89 patients, but no outcome results were reported 2.
Recent results — preliminary, needs further review
- In a small phase 2 trial (N=6), erenumab was associated with a change in the number of days experiencing moderate-to-severe headaches of -8 versus -0.33, and a change in the number of days where acute treatment was administered of -7.5 versus -2.7 4; these findings are not yet corroborated.
- Sumatriptan 100 mg showed a change in headache relief of 23 (p=.079) in a phase 2 trial of 40 patients 5; this finding is tagged [UNCONFIRMED] and has not been corroborated.
- Fremanezumab did not significantly reduce monthly average headache days of at least moderate severity (-3.6 vs -5.1, p=0.1876) in a phase 2 trial of 87 patients 6; the proportions reaching at least 50% reduction were 5 vs 4 for any severity and 9 vs 11 for at least moderate severity 6; these findings are tagged [UNCONFIRMED] and have not been corroborated.
- Amitriptyline was associated with a change in headache severity (7, p=.017) but not frequency (10, p=.101) in a phase 2 trial of 50 patients 8; adverse events possibly related to study medication occurred in 5; 3; 4; 1; 0; 0 participants (p=.456) 8; these findings are tagged [UNCONFIRMED] and have not been corroborated.
- Behavioral headache therapy improved headache-related disability scores on the HIT-6 (66.1; 66.1; 65.2; 61.9; 63.3; 64.2, p<0.001) and post-traumatic stress symptoms on the PCL-5 (47.7; 48.6; 49.0; 36.5; 30.0; 41.6, p=0.04) in a trial of 193 patients 9; these findings are tagged [UNCONFIRMED] and have not been corroborated.
For the clinician treating this condition
- Dexamethasone did not improve moderate-to-severe headache frequency or post-concussive symptoms after ED discharge in a phase 4 trial 1.
- Metoclopramide trials reported headache days of 3.3 in both groups in a phase 3 trial 3, while a phase 2 trial of metoclopramide reported no outcome results 7.
- Prazosin was studied in a phase 4 trial but no outcome results were reported 2.
AI synthesis of 9 cited trials,
updated Oct 23, 2026.
Informational only — not medical advice; trial data sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov.
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