Efficacy of Ultrasound Guided Sphenopalatine Ganglion Block versus Greater Occipital Nerve Block in Management of Chronic Migraine

Abstract

Abstract Introduction Migraine is a common primary headache disorder, announced as the second largest contributors of disability-adjusted life-years in the Global Burden of Disease Study. However, different treatment modalities have emerged for migraine including ultrasound guided sphenopalatine ganglion block and greater occipital nerve block, but there weren’t enough studies that compared their efficacy to each other, despite showing efficacy against medical treatment in different types of headaches. Materials and Methods This study was a two-arm randomized controlled trial, included 40 patients, 20 in each arm, randomized by simple randomization, all patients were assessed initially by headache diary, HIT-6 and MIDAS scales. The patients underwent nerve block ultrasound guided, then followed up after one month by headache diary and HIT- 6 scale and three months by MIDAS. Result This study showed significant improvement in the two arms, with significant difference between both groups as regards the improvement, with SPG block showing better improvement. Conclusion This study highlighted the efficacy of nerve blocks in treatment of chronic resistant migraine, with SPG block showing promising response. This study recommends extending the study to involve a larger scale of patients to approve the efficacy of nerve blocks in such cases.