Migraines could be relieved with a local anaesthetic, research suggests.

       Around six million people in the UK suffer with migraines and the condition can lead to debilitating pain lasting for several hours.

       For some sufferers, headaches persist despite treatment to ease symptoms.

       Researchers set out to examine the effectiveness of whether an infusion of lidocaine, a local anaesthetic, could help “break the cycle” of pain among patients admitted to hospital.

       The treatment, which is normally administered intravenously, had already been used for some patients with migraines which do not respond to treatment, but the evidence was “limited,” they said.

       The team, led by academics from the University of Philadelphia, examined data on 609 patients who received the treatment alongside other migraine treatments.

       Participants were asked to rate their pain before their hospital admission and as they left on a scale of zero to 10.

       When they were admitted the average pain score was seven.

       But after an infusion of lidocaine, along with other treatments, patients reported that their pain rating was, on average, just one.

       Participants were followed up one to two months after they were discharged and reported an average pain score of 5.5.

       Experiencing fewer ‘headache days’

       They also reported that they were experiencing fewer “headache days” – down from 27 days per month at the start of the study to 23 days at follow-up.

       Researchers called for a larger study to confirm the findings and assess how beneficial lidocaine infusions could be to help people with chronic migraines who have not responded to other treatments.

       “Lidocaine infusions may be associated with short-term and medium-term pain relief in refractory chronic migraine,” they wrote in the journal Regional Anesthesia & Pain Medicine.

       “This study provides a rational basis for performing a randomised controlled trial to evaluate lidocaine infusions as an effective treatment for refractory chronic migraine.”

       Last year a study suggested that eating a portion of oily fish a day could protect against headaches and migraines.