A recent Swedish study revealed promising results for a drug mainly used to treat epilepsy, after its use was associated with a significant decrease in the number of days of migraine “aura” in patients who suffer from it frequently or severely.
Researchers from Lund University found that the drug Lamotrigine was associated with a decrease in the average number of aura days from 6.9 days to 1.4 days per month, or about 80%, among study participants, and 85.2% of patients achieved a reduction of no less than half in the number of monthly aura days.
The study was published in the journal Frontiers in Neurology on July 29, 2026, and included 81 patients treated at a neurology clinic in the Swedish city of Lund between 2014 and 2022.
What is a migraine aura?
An aura is a group of temporary neurological symptoms that may precede or accompany a migraine attack, and include visual disturbances such as blurred vision or loss of part of it, along with tingling or numbness, and disturbances of speech, language, and balance.
About a third of migraine patients suffer from aura, and for some patients it may be more annoying and affecting than the headache itself.
The researchers focused specifically on patients in whom aura was frequent or severe enough to be the main burden of the disease.
Drug under investigation
Lamotrigine is used to treat epilepsy and bipolar disorder, but it is not approved for the treatment of migraine, but researchers based on the similarity of some of the neural mechanisms associated with epilepsy and migraine aura; Both involve temporary changes in nerve cell activity.
Lamotrigine affects the electrical activity of nerve cells via sodium and potassium channels, and also reduces the release of the neurotransmitter glutamate, which may limit hyperexcitability of nerve cells.
The researchers believe that this mechanism may help suppress a neurological phenomenon known as “diffuse cortical depolarization,” which is thought to play a major role in the occurrence of aura.
A decrease of approximately 80%
The study included 81 patients suffering from recurrent or severe migraine aura, and the researchers found that the average number of days with a monthly aura decreased after starting treatment from 6.9 to 1.4 days, equivalent to an average decrease of 79.7%.
Also, 69 out of 81 patients responded to treatment, i.e. 85.2%, and response was defined as a decrease in menstrual menstrual days by at least 50%.
Visual aura was the most common among the participants, as it appeared in 98.7% of them, while sensory symptoms were recorded in 45.6%, and speech or language disorders in 32%.
Promising results
Despite the remarkable results, researchers stressed that they are not sufficient to approve lamotrigine as a treatment for migraine aura. The study was retrospective, relied on a review of medical records, and was conducted in one center and without a control group receiving a placebo, which means that it can show a link between the use of the drug and improvement in symptoms, but it does not alone prove a confirmed causal relationship.
29 patients recorded side effects, the most common of which were skin changes, and 5 patients had to stop treatment due to side effects.
The researchers are now working to move to a national, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial to check whether the results will be replicated in a more rigorous study.
If the results are confirmed, researchers believe that lamotrigine may provide a low-cost treatment option that has been used for years for a group of patients for which there is currently no approved treatment specifically targeting aura.