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Stimulating Occipital Nerve Eases Cluster Headaches
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Page: << Prev | 1 | 2 | 3 | Next >> Some patients go so far as to have surgery, while other possibilities include pure oxygen and a nasal spray used to treat migraine headaches. That spray, called zolmitriptan (Zomig), appears to work by targeting nerves that carry pain signals.
Schoenen's study involved administering occipital nerve stimulation to eight patients with chronic cluster headaches. Two patients were free of the attacks after follow-ups of 16 and 22 months, and three patients had about a 90 percent reduction in attack frequency. One patient quit the trial after four months, because he felt the intervention wasn't beneficial. Overall, the rate of headache among the study participants decreased by 50 percent. The attacks came back when the stimulator was switched off.
The second study, conducted in Great Britain, also involved eight patients with cluster headaches for whom drug treatment hadn't worked. All were treated with electrodes implanted for occipital nerve stimulation.
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After follow-ups lasting six to 27 months, six of the eight patients said the therapeutic benefit was great enough that they would recommend the procedure to others. Two patients noticed a "substantial" improvement (90 percent and 95 percent) in their attacks; three noticed a "moderate" improvement (40 percent, 60 percent and 20 percent to 80 percent, respectively); and one reported "mild" improvement (25 percent).
As in the Belgian study, symptoms returned almost immediately when the device malfunctioned -- for example, when the battery ran out.
"For people living with and suffering from intractable headache, developments are afoot," said Dr. Peter Goadsby, senior author of the British study and a professor at the Institute of Neurology at National Hospital for Neurology & Neurosurgery in London. "And for patients with intractable chronic cluster headache, a new era is beginning."
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Copyright © 2007 ScoutNews, LLC. All rights reserved.
Last updated 3/8/2007
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SOURCES: Jean Schoenen, M.D., Ph.D., professor of neurology, Liege University, Liege, Belgium; Peter J. Goadsby, M.D., professor, Institute of Neurology, National Hospital for Neurology & Neurosurgery, London, England; Jay Selman, M.D., neurologist, Northern Westchester Hospital Center, Mount Kisco, N.Y., and clinical associate professor of neurology, Columbia University, New York City; March 8, 2007, The Lancet and The Lancet Neurology, online
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