Four Decades of Occipital Nerve Stimulation for Headache Disorders: A Systematic Review

期刊论文
发表日期：

2024年6月22日

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Linda Kollenburg,
Erkan Kurt,
Wim Mulleners,
Alaa Abd-Elsayed,
Cyrus Yazdi,
Michael E. Schatman,
R. Jason Yong,
Ivo H. Cerda,
Adlai Pappy II,
Sait Ashina,
Christopher Louis Robinson,
Moises Dominguez

摘要

Purpose of Review

Chronic headaches are a significant source of disability worldwide. Despite the development of conventional strategies, a subset of patients remain refractory and/or experience side effects following these treatments. Hence, occipital nerve stimulation (ONS) should be considered as an alternative strategy for intractable chronic headaches. This review aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the effectiveness, safety, mechanisms and practical application of ONS for the treatment of headache disorders.

Recent Findings

Overall response rate of ONS is 35.7–100%, 17–100%, and 63–100% in patients with cluster headache, chronic migraine and occipital neuralgia respectively. Regarding the long-term effectivity in all groups, 41.6–88.0% of patients remain responders after ≥ 18.3 months. The most frequently reported adverse events include lead migration/fracture (13%) and local pain (7.3%).

Summary

Based on our results, ONS can be considered a safe and effective treatment for chronic intractable headache disorders. To support more widespread application of ONS, additional research with larger sample sizes should be conducted.