Evidence map›Paper›PMID 30128946›Full record

ArticleThe journal of headache and pain2018

Neurophysiological correlates of clinical improvement after greater occipital nerve (GON) block in chronic migraine: relevance for chronic migraine pathophysiology.

Alessandro Viganò, Maria Claudia Torrieri, Massimiliano Toscano, Francesca Puledda, Barbara Petolicchio, Tullia Sasso D'Elia, Angela Verzina, Sonia Ruggiero, Marta Altieri, Edoardo Vicenzini and 2 more

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

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.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
19citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
2.3field-weighted citation impact, top 11% of its field
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

19 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 40 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Trial
  3. Article
  4. Greater Occipital Nerve Block as Preventive Treatment in Migraine: A Time-To-Event Analysis.Pain practice : the official journal of World Institute of Pain · 2025
    Article
  5. Article
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  7. Article
  8. Article
  9. Article
  10. Article
  11. Article
  12. Review
  13. A pilot analysis of headache disorders in breast cancer patients.Neurological sciences : official journal of the Italian Neurological Society and of the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology · 2022
    Article
  14. Review
  15. Review
  16. Article
  17. The effect of greater occipital nerve blockade on the quality of life, disability and comorbid depression, anxiety, and sleep disturbance in patients with chronic migraine.Neurological sciences : official journal of the Italian Neurological Society and of the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology · 2020
    Article
  18. The fifth cranial nerve in headaches.The journal of headache and pain · 2020
    Review
  19. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

12 authors at 6 institutions in 3 countries.

Alessandro ViganòHeadache Centre & Neurocritical Care Unit. Department of Human Neurosciences, Sapienza - University of Rome, Viale dell'Università 30, 00185, Rome, Italy.
Maria Claudia TorrieriRita Levi Montalcini Department of Neuroscience, Città della Salute e della Scienza, Turin, Italy.
Massimiliano ToscanoHeadache Centre & Neurocritical Care Unit. Department of Human Neurosciences, Sapienza - University of Rome, Viale dell'Università 30, 00185, Rome, Italy.
Francesca PuleddaHeadache Group, Department of Basic and Clinical Neuroscience, King's College London, and NIHR-Wellcome Trust King's Clinical Research Facility, Wellcome Foundation Building, King's College Hospital, London, SE5 9PJ, UK.
Barbara PetolicchioHeadache Centre & Neurocritical Care Unit. Department of Human Neurosciences, Sapienza - University of Rome, Viale dell'Università 30, 00185, Rome, Italy.
Tullia Sasso D'EliaMolecular and Cellular Networks Lab. Department of Anatomy, Histology, Forensic medicine and Orthopaedics, Sapienza - University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
Angela VerzinaDepartment of Neurology, University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy.
Sonia RuggieroHeadache Centre & Neurocritical Care Unit. Department of Human Neurosciences, Sapienza - University of Rome, Viale dell'Università 30, 00185, Rome, Italy.
Marta AltieriHeadache Centre & Neurocritical Care Unit. Department of Human Neurosciences, Sapienza - University of Rome, Viale dell'Università 30, 00185, Rome, Italy.
Edoardo VicenziniHeadache Centre & Neurocritical Care Unit. Department of Human Neurosciences, Sapienza - University of Rome, Viale dell'Università 30, 00185, Rome, Italy.
Jean SchoenenHeadache Research Unit. Department of Neurology, University of Liège, Citadelle Hospital, Liège, Belgium.
Vittorio Di PieroHeadache Centre & Neurocritical Care Unit. Department of Human Neurosciences, Sapienza - University of Rome, Viale dell'Università 30, 00185, Rome, Italy. vittorio.dipiero@uniroma1.it.
Sapienza University of Rome · ITFatebenefratelli Hospital · ITUniversity of Liège · BEUniversity of Pavia · ITUniversity of Perugia · ITWellcome Trust · GB

Funding

Sapienza Università di Roma 000309_17_RS
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundTherapeutic management of Chronic Migraine (CM), often associated with Medication Overuse Headache (MOH), is chiefly empirical, as no biomarker predicting or correlating with clinical efficacy is available to address therapeutic choices. The present study searched for neurophysiological correlates of Greater Occipital Nerve Block (GON-B) effects in CM.

methodsWe recruited 17 CM women, of whom 12 with MOH, and 19 healthy volunteers (HV). Patients had no preventive treatment since at least 3 months. After a 30-day baseline, they received a bilateral betamethasone-lidocaine GON-B of which the therapeutic effect was assessed 1 month later. Habituation of visual evoked potentials (VEP) and intensity dependence of auditory evoked potentials (IDAP) were recorded before and 1 week after the GON-B.

resultsAt baseline, CM patients had a VEP habituation not different from HV, but a steeper IDAP value than HV (p = 0.01), suggestive of a lower serotonergic tone. GON-B significantly reduced the number of total headache days per month (- 34.9%; p = 0.003). Eight out 17CM patients reversed to episodic migraine and medication overuse resolved in 11 out of 12 patients. One week after the GON-B VEP habituation became lacking respect to baseline (p = 0.01) and to that of HV (p = 0.02) like in episodic migraine, while the IDAP slope significantly flattened (p < 0.0001). GON-B-induced reduction in headache days positively correlated with IDAP slope decrease (rho = 0.51, p = 0.03).

conclusionsGON-B may be effective in the treatment of CM, with or without MOH. The pre-treatment IDAP increase is compatible with a weak central serotonergic tone, which is strengthened after GON-B, suggesting that serotonergic mechanisms may play a role in CM and its reversion to episodic migraine. Since the degree of post-treatment IDAP decrease is correlated with clinical improvement, IDAP might be potentially useful as an early predictor of GON-B efficacy.

Indexed as

AdolescentAdultAnesthetics, LocalAutonomic Nerve BlockBetamethasoneChronic DiseaseEvoked Potentials, AuditoryEvoked Potentials, VisualFemaleHeadache Disorders, SecondaryHumansLidocaineMaleMiddle AgedMigraine DisordersSpinal NervesAnesthetics, LocalBetamethasoneLidocaineChronic migraineHabituationPlasticityPredictorsSerotonin

Identifiers

PMID30128946
PMCPMC6102162
OpenAlexW2888287549

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

None linked

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.