Sphenopalatine Block for Treatment of Migraine Headache| Biomed Grid

Migraine is a common headache and a leading cause of disability worldwide [1]. Chronic migraine (CM) burdens patients due to the headache and debilitating associated symptoms and through disability high economic costs. CM patients meet diagnostic criteria and have a minimum of headaches and symptoms 8 days a month or headaches on 15 days a month. A complete, detailed history and an in-depth physical examination with the emphasis on neurologic aspects is required in order to differentiate CM from other causes of headache. If indicated, other diagnostic tests may be required [2]. A multifaceted approach is used to eliminate risk factors and headache triggers. Prophylaxis and abortive approaches can be applied. Use of pharmacologic agents for the acute/chronic treatment of migraine may be limited by adverse side effects, variability if effect and efficacy, or contraindications, allergies or untoward drug -drug interactions. These factors contribute to chronicity of the headache and medication overuse headache [3]. Historically, we have considered migraine as a self-limited pain disorder that is episodic. More recently however, CM has become an end stage disorder of episodic migraine (EM). The International Headache Society suggests that CM is a complication of EM [4-6]. Indeed, other current evidence indicates that migraine may be a chronic progressive disorder characterized by escalating frequency of headache attacks, often termed transformed migraine. Munakata et al. [7] reported that transformed migraine patients missed much more work or school time. Productivity was significantly reduced. Average per-person annual total costs were 4.4-fold greater for those with transformed migraine ($7750) versus those with EM ($1757). Transformed migraine extracts a significant economic toll.