Nerve stimulation for cluster

Cluster headaches are a nightmare, especially for those who aren’t helped by the common drug treatments.  But a new study with cluster patients shows that occipital nerve stimulation may be promising.

Nerve stimulation has been used with some success in migraine patients.  The study published today was led by Peter J. Goadsby, MD, PhD of University College London (England).  He specifically recruited patients who had gotten little help from drugs.  The study was small, only 8 patients, and the results varied quite a bit.  6 patients saw an improvement, most between 20% and 80%.  But two people reported a 90-95% improvement – VERY significant for the incredibly painful clusters.  It’s not like they wouldn’t be sure about that kind of improvement.

I know you hear it here a lot – “more studies are needed”.  That’s because we like to talk about things that are “new” from time to time.  But early on it looks like this will be a treatment that will help a few, though not all, hard-to-treat patients.  And if the treatment is tested more, it may be that the percentage of patients helped will improve.  Here’s hoping!

Here are a couple of articles about the recent study… WebMD on New Treatment for Cluster Headaches and the CBC, Nerve stimulation may help treat cluster headaches.