There's a new device designed to alleviate chronic headache (hemicrania continua) that is called "bion". It's what's called a "unilateral neurostimulation device for the occipital nerve". In other words, it's a rechargeable battery-powered electrode, the size of a matchstick, that's implanted in the back of the neck. It even comes with a remote control.
The previous versions of this gadget have been used to treat osteoarthritis pain and dislocated joints for patients recovering from stroke.
A small but long term study was conducted to determine the effectiveness of "bion":
"At the beginning of the study, participants underwent a minimally invasive surgery to have the bion implanted at the occipital nerve. Each participant then received continuous stimulation of the nerve for the first three months. The device was switched off for the fourth month, ensuring that patients did not receive stimulation of the occipital nerve during that time, and switched on again at month five.
Switching off the bion enabled researchers to measure whether the device – rather than the placebo affect – was responsible for pain modulation."
At the follow-ups, from six to 21 month, researches collected the following data:
Four of the six patients reported substantial pain improvement at a level of 80 to 95 percent.
One patient saw a 30 percent improvement.
One patient reported that his pain worsened by 20 percent.
Dr. Peter J. Goadsby, director of the UCSF Headache Center, speaks - “The bion was well tolerated, and neuromodulation is proving an effective and safe option.
It’s quite exciting to think about how technology will advance in the next five years to provide remarkable devices for the treatment of headache. Preventive approaches like these will completely change the landscape of headache treatment.”
"Bion" is a second generation of neurostimulators for the alleviation of pain of primary headache, such as chronic daily headache, chronic migraine, etc. Here's hoping that the science-types will work out the kinks they had with the "first" generation devices, that received somewhat mixed response, to put it mildly, from migraine patients. Also, and it's just a though, it would be nice if these "second generation" doohickeys would be more or less affordable when they hit the market. Otherwise, my good doctors, you won't be implanting a whole bunch of them any time soon.
link: Nerve Stimulation Therapy Alleviates Pain For Chronic Headache
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Nerve Stimulation Implant to Reduce the Severity of Chronic Headache
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6 comments:
Hi,
Larger studies on occipital nerve stimulation for migraine and cluster headaches were presented this past summer at the American Headache Society meeting..I was lucky enough to be there.
For cluster the effectiveness is about 67% and for migraine about 47%. An alternative to the stimulator is to have occipital nerve blocks done and if they work then the person is a possible candidate for the surgery.
Oh, nice, thank you. Do you have some link about the effectiveness of those neurostimulators I could update the article with?
Are these available now?? If not... do you know if they are going to be available anytime soon?
I have Hemicrania Continua and have trouble tolerating indomethacin and when doing research I came a across this article and have been trying to find out if they are available now.
Here's UCSF Headache Center contact page .
Or call (888)689-8273, ask for Dr. Goadsby in regard of occipital nerve stimulation implant.
The implants should be available. What generation of the tech they are using now is another matter. Point them to my article or one in ScienceDaily if they ask what implant you are referring to.
I realize this is an old post but I wanted to comment anyway. I had an occipital nerve stimulator implanted this past June (2009). It has changed my life! It controls my pain excellently. I have gone back to work full time, returned to my hobbies, and am actually able to live more than just day-to-day. It's been the best thing I've ever done. I've blogged about my experience at http://onstim.blogspot.com if you are interested. I thought maybe you could also add me to your blog list as a resource for some of your readers. I can only hope that someday my blog is as full and informative as yours! Keep up the good work.
nice one... thank you. "QuickZap" can also be a better option gor nerve simulation
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