ArticleThe journal of headache and pain2018
Treatment of disabling headache with greater occipital nerve injections in a large population of childhood and adolescent patients: a service evaluation.
Article in The journal of headache and pain, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
19 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 50 citations in OpenAlex.
- New daily persistent headache: a systematic review on an enigmatic disorder.The journal of headache and pain · 2019Pooled it
- Greater and Lesser Occipital Nerve Blocks for Frequent and Severe Headaches in Children and Adolescents: A Protocolized Repetitive Intervention Study.Neurology and therapy · 2026Article
- Peripheral Nerve Blocks in Adolescents with Medically Refractory Migraine: A Retrospective Observational Study.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Hallmarks of primary headache: part 4 - rare headache syndromes.The journal of headache and pain · 2025Review
- Hallmarks of primary headache: part 3 - cluster headache.The journal of headache and pain · 2025Review
- Greater Occipital Nerve Block as Preventive Treatment in Migraine: A Time-To-Event Analysis.Pain practice : the official journal of World Institute of Pain · 2025Article
- New Daily Persistent Headache in the Pediatric and Adolescent Population: An Updated Review.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Cluster Headache: Diagnosis, Management, and Treatment in Pediatric Headache.Journal of clinical medicine · 2024Review
- New Daily Persistent Headache (NDPH): Unraveling the Complexities of Diagnosis, Pathophysiology, and Treatment.Current pain and headache reports · 2023Review
- Article
- Revisiting Migraine: The Evolving Pathophysiology and the Expanding Management Armamentarium.Cureus · 2023Review
- The Enigma of New Daily Persistent Headache: What Solutions for Pediatric Age?Current pain and headache reports · 2022Review
- Perineural Methylprednisolone Depot Formulation Decreases Opioid Consumption After Total Knee Arthroplasty.Journal of pain research · 2022Article
- Review of Interventional Therapies for Refractory Pediatric Migraine.Health psychology research · 2022Article
- Comparison of greater occipital nerve and greater occipital nerve + supraorbital nerve block effect in chronic medication overuse headacheTurkish journal of medical sciences · 2021Article
- Approach to Pediatric Intractable Migraine.Current neurology and neuroscience reports · 2021Review
- ED and Inpatient Management of Headache in Children and Adolescents.Current neurology and neuroscience reports · 2020Review
- New Daily Persistent Headache: a Diagnostic and Therapeutic Odyssey.Current neurology and neuroscience reports · 2019Review
- Neurophysiological correlates of clinical improvement after greater occipital nerve (GON) block in chronic migraine: relevance for chronic migraine pathophysiology.The journal of headache and pain · 2018Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundPediatric headache disorders can be extremely disabling, with marked reduction in the quality of life of children and their carers. Evidenced-based options for the treatment of primary headache disorders with preventive medication is limited and clinical outcomes are often unsatisfactory. Greater occipital nerve injections represent a rapid and well-tolerated therapeutic option, which is widely used in clinical practice in adults, and has previously shown a good outcome in a pediatric population.
methodsThis service evaluation reviewed greater occipital nerve injections performed unilaterally with 30 mg 1% lidocaine and 40 mg methylprednisolone, to treat disabling headache disorders in children and adolescents.
resultsWe analyzed a total of 159 patients who received 380 injections. Of the population, 79% had chronic migraine, 14% new daily persistent headache, 4% a trigeminal autonomic cephalalgia, 3% secondary headache and one patient had chronic tension-type headache. An improvement after injection was seen in 66% (n = 105) of subjects, lasting on average 9 ± 4 weeks. Improvement was seen in 68% of patients with chronic migraine, 67% with a trigeminal autonomic cephalalgia and 59% with new daily persistent headache. Side effects were reported in 8% and were mild and transient. Older age, female gender, chronic migraine, increased number of past preventive use, medication overuse and developing side effects were all associated with an increased likelihood of positive treatment outcome.
conclusionsThis large single centre service evaluation confirms that unilateral injection of the greater occipital nerve is a safe, rapid-onset and effective treatment strategy in disabling headache disorders in children, with a range of diagnoses and severity of the condition, and with minimal side effects.
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Registered trials
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