Arterial Ligation
I just read this informative article by Dr. Jason Hall: https://migraine.com/blog/migraine-choosing-surgical-nerve-decompression-candidates/
In it, he describes a surgery called Arterial Ligation, which is rarely performed in the United States. It may help headache patients whose pain is relieved by pressing on their head and then the pain comes back when the pressure is released. The pain is also relieved by wearing a band around the head. Both of these criteria fit my son's condition exactly.
Has anyone had this surgery?
A Google search did not help me find any doctors who perform this surgery other than Dr. Hall in Houston and a clinic in South Africa. We are in the Washington DC area and would like to find a practitioner we can drive to. I will call Dr. Ducic to see if he does it, but his website does not mention it.
Thanks,
Julia
Hi Julia32,
I've not had this surgery, but wanted to talk about a few things regarding surgery for migraine. As mentioned in Dr. Hall's interview, before a patient decides to have any type of surgery for migraine, its vital that they be under the care of a true migraine/headache disorder specialist. This means a doctor who is board certified in headache medicine. This certification is different than a doctor certified in neurology. A list of board certified doctors in headache medicine can be found in this article;https://migraine.com/blog/looking-for-a-migraine-specialist/.
In my opinion, it's imperative to explore every option before having any surgery for migraine.
Nancy
I had the surgery performed by Dr. Hall. He is actually in Memphis now. My experience was that the first surgery lessened the pain on one side of my head by stopping the sharp pains, but the overall pain remains. Then I had a second surgery on the other side of my head and got no results on that side. At the same time he did a little more over my eye and I think that helped stop the sharp pains also, but I still get a lot of overall pain. It's hard to describe.
