Study of Occipital Nerve Stimulation
Medtronic Begins Study of Occipital Nerve Stimulation for Chronic, Refractory Migraine Headaches; Implanted Device Delivers Electrical Impulses to Occipital Nerves. Medtronic Begins Study of Occipital Nerve Stimulation for Chronic, Refractory Migraine Headaches; Implanted Device Delivers Electrical Impulses to Occipital Nerves
Medtronic, Inc. today announced the first patient implant in a preliminary study to evaluate if an implanted device might help some of the thousands of Americans who suffer the agony of chronic migraine headaches that have not responded to other treatments.
More on occipital nerve block: The current issue of journal Headache presents a report of two patients whose prolonged hemiplegic migraine aura resolved with greater occipital nerve block. It is hard to explain how blocking a nerve would stop this brain dysfunction, but Botox which we routinely use to treat migraines, also seems to affect brain processes through peripheral nerves. I might try occipital nerve block for my next patient with a prolonged aura, but only if an intravenous infusion of one gram of magnesium sulfate fails.
Please ask your doctor about taking magnesium and CoQ10 supplements and about calcium channel blockers.
I would suggest asking your doctor about intravenous magnesium or Botox injections, which is an FDA-approved treatment for chronic migraines before trying an experimental procedure such as occipital nerve stimulation. You can also ask your doctor to refer you to Dr. Suelane Doouro at Beth Israel Hospital who does implant various stimulators for pain.
I have suffered with over a years worth of sporadic Hemiplegic migraines. Do you have any advice?
I’m looking for a doctor in NY state that can perform the ONS precedure. I was in a MVA 19 months ago and since then suffer from a constant headache. The only relief I’ve had was from Nerve blocks, between those I’m taking percocet 10s every four hours to keep my pain somewhat bareable at about a 7 on a scale of 1 – 10. Without medication or the nerve blocks its off the chart at a 15 or higher