The Best of Headache Medicine from 2025: A Year in Review

·30 min·3 clips

Patricia Pozorosic reveals how a new antibody targeting PAR2 shows promise in preclinical migraine models.

2025 brought real movement in headache medicine, and this conversation keeps the pace clinical. Tisha Menteeth asks Patricia Pozorosic to pull out the talks, lectures, and research discussions from the International Headache Congress in Brazil that stood out most. Pozorosic focuses on translational work suggesting migraine may involve dynamic structural change, but not clear permanent degeneration. The host walks through several points that complicate the usual story. Genetic work connects migraine with hemorrhagic stroke, while the better known link between migraine with aura and ischemic stroke still sits in the background. Epilepsy gets a cautious read. The genetic overlap between migraine and epilepsy may be weaker than many clinicians had assumed, at least in the studies under discussion. Depression becomes less abstract and more practical. The episode treats migraine and depression as a comorbidity neurologists should keep in mind when counseling patients and weighing treatments. Chronic migraine also gets a careful pass. Pozorosic notes that many studies have not shown a strong genetic relationship between chronic migraine and episodic migraine, which moves the discussion toward epigenetics. DNA methylation and microRNAs come up as possible modulators of a disease that can start, stop, and change attack frequency over time. The practical message is awareness. Migraine may look different from patient to patient depending on which genetic and regulatory factors are active. The closing turns back to practice. Pozorosic urges clinicians to stay current on recommendations and therapies around the world, and to treat migraine earlier in the disease course. The science matters because it may change how neurologists explain risk, assess comorbidity, and choose when to step in.

As heard by us

A clinically grounded look at headache research, spanning migraine genetics, epigenetics, comorbidities, and treatment decisions.

The Neurology Podcast's special 2026 feature on headache links recent research to the kinds of clinical decisions neurologists face when treating migraine.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

You want a clinician-minded tour of the headache science that defined 2025, with migraine updates translated into what you might do sooner in care.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from Neurology® Podcast