Occipital nerve block

Last updated
Occipital Nerve Block
Practical human anatomy (electronic resource) - a working-guide for students of medicine and a ready-reference for surgeons and physicians (1886) (14775593414).jpg
Nerves innervating the cranial muscles. Occipital nerves to the bottom left originating from the neck.
Anatomical terms of neuroanatomy

Occipital nerve block is a procedure involving injection of steroids or anesthetics into regions of the greater occipital nerve and the lesser occipital nerve used to treat chronic headaches. [1] Therapeutic nerve blocks utilized steriods to decrease inflammation around the nerve, while diagnostic occipital nerve blocks utilizes local anesthetic alone to prove that nerve irritation is the cause of a patient's pain. Diagnostic occipital nerve blocks are often used to screen patients for further treatments such as occipital nerve decompression, also called migraine surgery. [2] [3] [4]

Contents

These nerves are located in the back of the head near in the suboccipital triangle along the line between the inion and the mastoid process. They innervate muscles in the suboccipital and posterior scalp regions. The injection will either block pain signals or reduce swelling and inflammation in these regions depending on the choice of injection. The procedure is helpful in treating occipital neuralgia and chronic headaches that arise from the neck. [5]

Procedure

The patient is kept conscious for the duration of the procedure. A small gauge needle is inserted at points of the greater and lesser occipital nerves down to the periosteum of the occiput. Some pain may be felt during the insertion of the needle through the skin. Injected anesthetics give pain relief almost immediately while steroid injections take 3–5 days to provide relief. The procedure has no major common complications, but some uncommon risks include bleeding, especially if on blood thinning medication, infection, and nerve damage. [6]

Studies

In 2018, the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine has carried out a study to examine the efficacity of occipital nerve block in mitigating migraine. The experimentation was done on 592 patients who had migraines and when they underwent greater occipital nerve block, 82% of them reported significant reduction of the pain. While the study concluded its usage as effective, some parts of the medical community expressed concern that further study was necessary. [7]

Notes

  1. ↑ Souza, Dmitri; Das, John (20 July 2024). "Greater Occipital Nerve Block". In Farag, Ehab; Mounir-Soliman, Loran (eds.). Brown's Atlas of Regional Anesthesia, E-Book. Philadelphia: Elsevier. pp. 219–222. ISBN   978-0-443-11282-9.
  2. ↑ Shauly, Orr; Gould, Daniel J.; Sahai-Srivastava, Soma; Patel, Ketan M. (October 2019). "Greater Occipital Nerve Block for the Treatment of Chronic Migraine Headaches: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis". Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. 144 (4): 943–952. doi:10.1097/PRS.0000000000006059. ISSN   1529-4242. PMID   31568309.
  3. ↑ Mustafa, Muhamad Saqlain; bin Amin, Shafin; Kumar, Aashish; Shafique, Muhammad Ashir; Fatima Zaidi, Syeda Mahrukh; Arsal, Syed Ali; Rangwala, Burhanudin Sohail; Iqbal, Muhammad Faheem; Raja, Adarsh; Haseeb, Abdul; Jawed, Inshal; Hussien Mohamed Ahmed, Khabab Abbasher; Muhammad Sinaan Ali, Syed; Varrassi, Giustino (2024-09-07). "Assessing the effectiveness of greater occipital nerve block in chronic migraine: a systematic review and meta-analysis". BMC Neurology. 24 (1): 330. doi: 10.1186/s12883-024-03834-6 . ISSN   1471-2377. PMC   11380438 . PMID   39244547.
  4. ↑ Baldelli, Ilaria; Mangialardi, Maria Lucia; Salgarello, Marzia; Raposio, Edoardo (October 2020). "Peripheral Occipital Nerve Decompression Surgery in Migraine Headache". Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. Global Open. 8 (10) e3019. doi:10.1097/GOX.0000000000003019. ISSN   2169-7574. PMC   7647655 . PMID   33173659.
  5. ↑ Rothrock, MD, JF (2010). "Occipital Nerve Blocks". Headache. 50 (5). American Headache Society: 917–8. doi: 10.1111/j.1526-4610.2010.01668.x . PMID   20546326.
  6. ↑ "Occipital Nerve Block". Ohio Health. Archived from the original on 2015-08-09. Retrieved 2015-08-07.
  7. ↑ Allen, Sorcha M.; Mookadam, Farouk; Cha, Stephen S.; Freeman, John A.; Starling, Amaal J.; Mookadam, Martina (2018). "Greater Occipital Nerve Block for Acute Treatment of Migraine Headache: A Large Retrospective Cohort Study". Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine. 31 (2): 211–218. doi: 10.3122/jabfm.2018.02.170188 . ISSN   1558-7118. PMID   29535237.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.