End Migraine Nightmare With Nerve Surgery
A recent review suggests that nerve surgery could be a promising treatment option for individuals suffering from frequent migraines, potentially reducing both the number of headache days and the intensity of attacks.
Published in the June issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, the findings indicate that migraine surgery can effectively alleviate nerve compression at trigger sites in the head and neck, which is believed to be a contributing factor to headaches.
Dr. Jeffrey Janis, a professor at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and lead researcher of the study, highlighted the comprehensive assessment of headache surgery outcomes. While neurologists typically focus on reducing the frequency of headache days, plastic surgeons evaluating headache surgery also consider factors such as intensity and duration of migraines.
Janis emphasized the importance of bridging the gap between these different evaluation methods to ensure a more unified understanding of the effectiveness of headache surgery.
The review, which examined 19 studies conducted between 2005 and 2020 involving over 1,600 patients, revealed promising results. On average, patients experienced a significant reduction of 14 headache days per month following migraine surgery. Additionally, the total number of migraine attacks decreased by almost nine days per month, accompanied by improvements in intensity and duration of migraines, without encountering major complications.
The researchers concluded that the study underscores the efficacy of headache surgery across both plastic surgery and neurology literature, aiming to facilitate better communication between professionals from these fields.
Moving forward, Janis suggested that future studies on headache surgery should routinely incorporate data on monthly migraine days to enable more robust comparisons between surgical and medical treatments, ultimately enhancing patient care and outcomes.
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