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Comparative Study
. 2008 Jul;48(7):1126-8.
doi: 10.1111/j.1526-4610.2008.01146.x. Epub 2008 Jun 28.

The first 5 minutes after greater occipital nerve block

William Young  1 , Brianna Cook, Shahram Malik, James Shaw, Michael Oshinsky
Affiliations
Comparative Study

The first 5 minutes after greater occipital nerve block

William Young et al. Headache. 2008 Jul.

Abstract

We performed greater occipital nerve blocks on 24 migraineurs with unilateral migraine and trigeminal nerve distribution allodynia. Using a visual analog scale for migraine pain, brush allodynia in the trigeminal nerve distribution and photophobia were reduced 64%, 75%, and 67%, respectively, after 5 minutes. Allodynia improved faster than headache. The results of this study suggest that greater occipital nerve blocks initiate an inhibitory process that shuts down several symptom generators.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest: None

Figures

Figure
Figure
Percent change in visual analog scale (VAS) score for headache pain, brush allodynia, and photophobia over 300 seconds. The anchors for headache pain were “worst it can be” and severe; for allodynia and photophobia were “worst it can be.” Percent of initial VAS pain, allodynia, and photophobia scores over 5 minutes (a) and survival curves for 50% response on VAS for pain and for allodynia (b). The estimated hazard of achieving a 50% reduction in baseline VAS score was 1.5 times (95% CI = 1.04, 2.19) greater for allodynia than headache.
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