THE CANADIAN JOURNAL OF NEUROLOGICAL SCIENCES Occipital condyle fracture (OCF) is a rare injury that was first described by Bell in 1817. In fact, there have been only 96 more reported cases of occipital condyle fractures from 1817 to 1994 of which only 58 survived.1 Occipital condyle fractures can sometimes go unnoticed or under-diagnosed as they are not always evident on plain radiographs of ...

Introduction.   Subcutaneous, occipital nerve stimulation has emerged as a potentially effective treatment modality for patients with refractory headache disorders. The purpose of this study was to document occipital stimulation characteristics in 10 patients status post implantation of an occipital nerve stimulator. Methods.   All possible electrode combinations were tested in each patient, an...

Occipital neuralgia is a rare pain syndrome characterized by periodic lancinating pain involving the occipital nerve complex. We present a unique case of entrapment of the greater occipital nerve (GON) within the semispinalis capitis, which was thought to be the cause of occipital neuralgia. A 66-year-old woman with refractory left occipital neuralgia revealed an abnormally low-loop of the left...

Among headache syndromes cervicogenic headache is a common problem which originates from region of the neck. When wide range of pharmacological treatment options are inadequate, interventional procedures are applied.[1] After trigger point injections, greater occipital nerve block (GONB) which is the most frequently applied technique among interventional methods has an important role in the tre...

Cervicocogenic headache (CeH) is a relatively common disorder. Although on ideal treatment is available so far, blockades in different structures and nerves may be temporarily effective. We studied the effects of 1-2 mL 0.5% bupivacaine injection at the ipsilateral greater occipital nerve (GON) in 41 CeH patients. The pain is significantly reduced both immediately and as long as 7 days after th...

Correspondence To the Editor: Occipital neuralgia (ON) is the third most common headache syndrome following migraine and tension‑type headache. In recent years, peripheral nerve stimulation (PNS) has been used to relieve severe pain caused by some types of neuralgia when conservative medical treatments and block procedures were not effective. PNS is a kind of neuromodulation using spinal cord s...

OBJECTIVES   Occipital nerve stimulation (ONS) is a peripheral nerve stimulation (PNS) technique that has been used with success in the management of intractable chronic daily headaches (CDHs) and occipital neuralgia (ON). The technique involves the placement of a stimulating surgical or percutaneous electrode over the occipital nerves within the subcutaneous tissues at the skull base. Until re...

BACKGROUND The greater occipital nerve (GON) block has been frequently used for different types of headache, but performed with rough estimates of anatomic landmarks. Our study presents the values of the anatomic parameters and estimates the effectiveness of the ultrasound-guided GON blockade. METHODS The GON was detected using ultrasound technique and distance from external occipital protube...