Evaluation of ultrasound-guided glossopharyngeal nerve block technique: A prospective observational study.

Background: Glossopharyngeal nerve block provides long-term pain relief in glossopharyngeal neuralgia patients; the nerve block can be performed using landmarks or ultrasound guidance. The present study has evaluated the efficacy of ultrasound-guided glossopharyngeal nerve block utilizing the small-sized hockey stick probe. Methods: The present study was a prospective, observational study; twenty-five adult patients diagnosed with primary glossopharyngeal neuralgia not responding to medical management were included in this clinical trial. Glossopharyngeal nerve block was done under ultrasound guidance using hockey stick probe; patients having more than 50% reduction in numeric rating scale (NRS) score, for at least 2 h following nerve block, were enrolled in the study and followed for 6 months. The primary outcome measure was the severity of pain, measured by NRS score. Secondary outcome measures were percentage pain relief, reduction of analgesic usage, and PHQ-9 score for psychological assessment. All these assessments were done prior to the procedure and at 2 weeks, 1, 3 and 6 months after the procedure. Results: We observed significant reduction in the NRS scores at 2 weeks (1.7 ± 1.6), 1 (1.9 ± 1.3), 3 (1.8 ± 1.3) and 6 months (2.1 ± 1.5) after Glossopharyngeal nerve block as compared to the baseline (6.1 ± 1.3; P value < 0.05); we also observed a significant pain relief (76%) and significantly reduced analgesic consumption (68%) and PHQ-9 scores (2.3 ± 1.7) compared to the baseline values (P value < 0.05). Conclusion: Ultrasound-guided glossopharyngeal nerve block with a linear array hockey stick probe provided significant pain relief in 75% of study participants with glossopharyngeal neuralgia over a six-month follow-up period.