Trial reportCephalalgia : an international journal of headache2016
Pilot study of sphenopalatine injection of onabotulinumtoxinA for the treatment of intractable chronic cluster headache.
Trial report in Cephalalgia : an international journal of headache, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT02019017 (Endoscopic Block of the Sphenopalatine Ganglion With Botulinum Toxin in Intractable Cluster Headache - Safety Issues), which is not on this map. Cited by 30 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Endoscopic Block of the Sphenopalatine Ganglion With Botulinum Toxin in Intractable Cluster Headache - Safety Issues
Who cites it
30 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 74 citations in OpenAlex.
- Research hotspots and frontiers of cluster headaches: a bibliometric analysis.Frontiers in neurology · 2024Pooled it
- Cluster headache: crosspoint between otologists and neurologists-treatment of the sphenopalatine ganglion and systematic review.Neurological sciences : official journal of the Italian Neurological Society and of the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology · 2019Pooled it
- Pilot Study of Injection of OnabotulinumtoxinA Toward the Sphenopalatine Ganglion for the Treatment of Classical Trigeminal Neuralgia.Headache · 2019Trial
- Pilot study of sphenopalatine injection of onabotulinumtoxinA for the treatment of intractable chronic migraine.Cephalalgia : an international journal of headache · 2017Trial
- Perineural Administration of Botulinum Toxin for Chronic Pain Management: A Narrative Review.Pain research & management · 2026Review
- Hallmarks of primary headache: part 3 - cluster headache.The journal of headache and pain · 2025Review
- Sphenopalatine Ganglion Blocks in Headache Management: A Review.Brain sciences · 2025Review
- Review
- Current and Novel Therapies for Cluster Headache: A Narrative Review.Pain and therapy · 2025Review
- Article
- Non-Migraine Head Pain and Botulinum Toxin.Toxins · 2024Review
- Current treatment options for cluster headache: limitations and the unmet need for better and specific treatments-a consensus article.The journal of headache and pain · 2023Review
- [Clinical use of botulinum toxin type A in pain medicine].Schmerz (Berlin, Germany) · 2023Article
- Cluster headache: state of the art in treatment.Frontiers in pain research (Lausanne, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- Botulinum Toxin-A Current Place in the Treatment of Chronic Migraine and Other Primary Headaches.Toxins · 2022Review
- Cluster headache and TACs: state of the art.Neurological sciences : official journal of the Italian Neurological Society and of the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology · 2020Review
- Endogenous Neurostimulation and Physiotherapy in Cluster Headache: A Clinical Case.Brain sciences · 2019Article
- Observational
- The pathophysiology of the trigeminal autonomic cephalalgias, with clinical implications.Clinical autonomic research : official journal of the Clinical Autonomic Research Society · 2018Review
- Depicting the pterygopalatine ganglion on 3 Tesla magnetic resonance images.Surgical and radiologic anatomy : SRA · 2018Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveThe main object of this pilot study was to investigate the safety of administering onabotulinumtoxinA (BTA) towards the sphenopalatine ganglion (SPG) in intractable chronic cluster headache. Efficacy data were also collected to provide indication on whether future placebo-controlled studies should be performed.
methodIn a prospective, open-label, uncontrolled study, we performed a single injection of 25 IU (n = 5) or 50 IU BTA (n = 5) towards the SPG in 10 patients with intractable chronic cluster headache with a follow-up of 24 weeks. The primary outcome was adverse events (AEs) and the main efficacy outcome was attack frequency in weeks 3 and 4 post-treatment.
resultsA total of 11 AEs were registered. There was one severe adverse event (SAE): posterior epistaxis. The number of cluster headache attacks (main efficacy outcome) was statistically significantly reduced in the intention-to-treat analysis from 18 ± 12 per week in baseline to 11 ± 14 (p = 0.038) in weeks 3 and 4, and five out of 10 patients had at least 50% reduction of attack frequency compared to baseline. The cluster attack frequency was significantly reduced for five out of six months post-treatment.
conclusionRandomised, placebo-controlled studies are warranted to establish the potential of this possible novel treatment of cluster headache.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.