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. 2023 Apr 29:11:74259.
doi: 10.52965/001c.74259. eCollection 2023.

Literature Review: Pericranial Nerve Blocks for Chronic Migraines

Stephanie Wahab  1 , Saurabh Kataria  2 , Parker Woolley  1 , Naanama O'Hene  1 , Chima Odinkemere  1 , Rosa Kim  3 , Ivan Urits  4 , Alan D Kaye  5 , Jamal Hasoon  6 , Cyrus Yazdi  1 , Christopher L Robinson  1
Affiliations

Literature Review: Pericranial Nerve Blocks for Chronic Migraines

Stephanie Wahab et al. Health Psychol Res. .

Abstract

Purpose of review: Headaches, especially migraines, are one of the most pervasive neurological disorders affecting up to 15.9% of the population. Current methods of migraine treatment include lifestyle changes, pharmacologic, and minimally invasive techniques such as peripheral nerve stimulation (PNS) and pericranial nerve blocks (PNB).

Recent findings: PNBs are used to treat and prevent migraines and involves injection of local anesthetics with or without corticosteroids. PNBs include the greater occipital, supraorbital, supratrochlear, lesser occipital, auriculotemporal, sphenopalantine ganglion, and cervical root nerve blocks. Of the PNBs, the most extensively studied is the greater occipital nerve block (GONB) which has been shown to be an efficacious treatment for migraines, trigeminal neuralgia, hemi-crania continua, and post-lumbar puncture, post-concussive, cluster, and cervicogenic headaches but not medication overuse and chronic tension type headaches.

Summary: In this review, we aim to summarize the recent literature on PNBs and their efficacy in the treatment of migraines including a brief discussion of peripheral nerve stimulation.

Keywords: Pericranial nerve blocks; Peripheral nerve Stimulation; greater occipital nerve block; migraines.

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Conflict of interest statement

There are no conflict of interests with the authors.

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