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Review
Neurostimulation in the treatment of primary headaches
  1. Sarah Miller1,
  2. Alex J Sinclair2,
  3. Brendan Davies3,
  4. Manjit Matharu1
  1. 1Headache Group, Institute of Neurology and The National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, London, UK
  2. 2Neurometabolism, Institute of Metabolism and Systems Research, College of Medical and Dental Sciences, The University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
  3. 3Department of Neurology, Royal Stoke University Hospital, Stoke-on-Trent, UK
  1. Correspondence to Dr Alex J Sinclair, Neurometabolism, Institute of Metabolism and Systems Research, College of Medical and Dental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Wolfson Drive, Edgbaston B15 2TT, UK; a.b.sinclair{at}bham.ac.uk

Abstract

There is increasing interest in using neurostimulation to treat headache disorders. There are now several non-invasive and invasive stimulation devices available with some open-label series and small controlled trial studies that support their use. Non-invasive stimulation options include supraorbital stimulation (Cefaly), vagus nerve stimulation (gammaCore) and single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (SpringTMS). Invasive procedures include occipital nerve stimulation, sphenopalatine ganglion stimulation and ventral tegmental area deep brain stimulation. These stimulation devices may find a place in the treatment pathway of headache disorders. Here, we explore the basic principles of neurostimulation for headache and overview the available methods of neurostimulation.

  • HEADACHE
  • MIGRAINE
  • Neurostimulation

This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt and build upon this work, for commercial use, provided the original work is properly cited. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

https://doi.org/10.1136/practneurol-2015-001298

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    • Editors' commentary
      Highlights from this issue
      Phil Smith Geraint N Fuller
      Practical Neurology 2016; 16 341-341 Published Online First: 13 Sep 2016. doi: 10.1136/practneurol-2016-001511

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