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Brain stimulation can relieve headaches

A technique called deep brain stimulation may relieve chronic cluster headaches that do not respond to standard medication.

Brain stimulation can relieve headaches

A technique called deep brain stimulation may relieve chronic cluster headaches that do not respond to medicines. Cluster headaches cause sudden, severe pain, often centred in one eye. Though the headaches tend to be short, they run in cycles, which may cause several headaches in one day or every few days. Most people with cluster headaches experience pain-free periods of several weeks or more between each headache cycle. About 10 percent of sufferers, however, experience chronic cycles, which can last a year or more. German researchers studied 6 patients with chronic cluster headache, and gave them deep brain stimulation, which involves surgically implanting electrodes that deliver a small electric current into a targeted area of the brain. This led to a profound decrease in attack frequency and pain intensity in 4 out of the 6 patients during the first 6 months. One of these patients was attack free for 6 months before suffering cluster headache attacks again. Two patients did not show a treatment response, defined as a reduction in attack frequency or severity of at least 50 percent, and overall 3 patients were considered treatment failures. After an average follow up of 17 months, 3 of 6 patients remain almost attack-free yielding an overall response rate of 50 percent. The treatment was well tolerated and no stimulation-related side effects were observed. However, further studies are needed to figure out which patients are most likely to respond to this therapy, gain a greater understanding of precisely how deep brain stimulation works, and to gather information on the long-term outcome in cluster headache patients.
Cephalalgia,
March 2008
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