Greater occipital nerve blockade in cervicogenic headache

MAURICE B. VINCENT, RENATO A. LUNA, DENISE SCANDIUZZI, SÉRGIO A. P NOVIS
1998 Arquivos de Neuro-Psiquiatria  
Cervicocogenic headache (CeH) is a relatively common disorder. Although no ideal treatment is available so far, blockades in different structures and nerves may be temporarily effective. We studied the effects of 1-2 mL 0.5% bupivacaine injection at the ipsilateral greater occipital nerve (GON) in 41 CeH patients. The pain is significantly reduced both immediately and as long as 7 days after the blockade. The improvement is less marked during the first two days, a phenomenon we called "tilde
more » ... tern". GON blockades may reduce the pool of exaggerated sensory input and antagonize a putative "wind-up-like effect" which may explain the headache improvement.
doi:10.1590/s0004-282x1998000500004 pmid:10029873 fatcat:rh76uwo2rjcxrcjbkp7kx73hme