Nerve Stimulator Study Shows Potential Benefit for Chronic Migraine

June 23rd, 2011 - Posted by Dr Marcus

Pain is controlled by nerves. Some pain, like pain from touching a hot stove, teaches important protection lessons. With chronic pain, like chronic low back pain and migraine, the brain and nerves send pain messages that don’t provide useful information about avoiding an impending threat. Instead these nerve signals are nuisance messages that can be debilitating.

For patients who have failed standard medical treatment of chronic pain, invasive treatments that directly target abnormal nerve signaling can sometimes be helpful. This approach is called neuromodulation, which means modifying nerve signaling. This is often done by sending electrical impulses to nerves. These devices counter the abnormal pain messages by sending their own electrical impulses. For example, spinal cord stimulators provide small electrical impulses to nerves near the spine. These stimulators are an established as a treatment for severe, disabling, recalcitrant pain that has failed more conservative treatments.

Illustration of the Genesis™ Neurostimulation System, an investigational device being evaluated in clinical research studies for chronic migraine headache. The Genesis system emits mild electrical pulses to generate peripheral nerve stimulation (PNS) of the occipital nerve in the back of the head.

Illustration provided by St. Jude Medical, Inc.

St. Jude Medical just released data from a study testing neuromodulation for chronic migraine. They tested a device that is implanted under the skin at the back of the head and delivers small, electrical impulses to the occipital nerves. The occipital nerves leave the top of the neck and travel over the back of the head. Other studies have shown that blocking activity of the occipital nerves through nerve blocks can temporarily reduce headache activity for some people. Using the newly tested nerve stimulation system, St. Jude Medical researchers reported a 28 percent decrease in headache frequency after 12 weeks compared with only a 4 percent drop among patients tested with a placebo.

What do these results mean for you? Should every migraine sufferer think about getting a nerve stimulator? Probably not. The people tested in this study had headaches nearly every day. The effectiveness was also less than what might be expected in the average migraine sufferer using more standard treatments. Neuromodulation may, however, proved to be a valuable option for those people with very frequent and disabling attacks who have given standard treatments a good try and have failed to respond adequately to those treatments. It will be important to watch as other studies are conducted by other researchers testing this device to confirm these initial good results.

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2 Responses to “Nerve Stimulator Study Shows Potential Benefit for Chronic Migraine”

scrapbookcindy says:

July 8, 2011 at 10:28 pm

I would try again with your insurance, because I now have 2 stimulators implanted in me and once the trial was approved I never had trouble getting the permanent approved. I had my stimulator for my migraines implanted on 5/25/11. Well I have totally went off my Oxycontin which is excellent. In the second or third week I went 4 days with no pain meds at all. For some reason the last 2 to 3 weeks I’ve only had 2 days where I didn’t take any pain meds at all, but I do know from my first stimulator it does take a lot of adjustments to get it right & the stimulation doesn’t come all the way to my forehead where some of my headaches are. Of course this is a tool and not a cure, but it’s a big blessing that I’m off the Oxycontin.
Shannon says:

June 23, 2011 at 9:33 am

I had the trial Neuromodulation back in October 2009. After a very successful trial, with few problems. I had to have it removed approximately 3 weeks after was placed due to scar tissue over a couple of the electrodes. So the dr who placed the trial referred to me the surgeon who was going to place the perminent neuromodulation unit. I was told insurance was not paying for this treatment & they had 25 people on a waiting list. After finding something that relieved my migraines for the first time in over 10 years, I was denied by the insurance. Which makes no sense due to the fact they approved the trial. So I do agree that it can help people for migraines but before you put all kinds of money out towards deductable, out of pocket expenses or anything like that, be sure your insurance will pay for the perminent. I had over $3000 in medical bills from out of pocket expenses before my insurance would pay bills at 100%. Just saying this happened in 2009, maybe things have changed by this year.