Castillo-Álvarez F, Hernando de la Bárcena I, Marzo-Sola ME. Greater occipital nerve block in the treatment of headaches. Review of evidence.
Med Clin (Barc) 2023:S0025-7753(23)00177-X. [PMID:
37100680 DOI:
10.1016/j.medcli.2023.04.001]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/18/2023] [Revised: 04/01/2023] [Accepted: 04/04/2023] [Indexed: 04/28/2023]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION
Peripheral nerve blocks have been a common treatment for multiple headaches. By far, the greater occipital nerve block is the most used and with the stronger body of evidence in routine clinical practice.
METHODS
We searched Pubmed Meta-Analysis/Systematic Review, in the last 10 years. Of these results, meta-analyses, and in the absence of these systematic reviews, assessing Greater Occipital Nerve Block in headache has been selected for review.
RESULTS
We identified 95 studies in Pubmed, 13 that met the inclusion criteria.
CONCLUSION
Greater occipital block is an effective and safe technique, easy to perform and which has shown its usefulness in migraine, cluster headache, cervicogenic headache and Post-dural puncture headache. However, more studies are needed to clarify its long-term efficacy, its place in clinical treatment, the possible difference between different anaesthetics, the most convenient dosage and the role of concomitant use of corticosteroids.
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