Post-traumatic Occipital Neuralgia - Surgical Versus Medical Management
Public ClinicalTrials.gov record NCT03253523. Field values are reproduced from the official study page; the official ClinicalTrials.gov record remains the source of truth for eligibility, enrollment, and contact information.
Data is sourced from official ClinicalTrials.gov public API records. Always review the official ClinicalTrials.gov record for the latest information.
Brief summary
Reproduced verbatim from the official ClinicalTrials.gov record. Not medical advice.
Occipital neuralgia and subsequent headaches are associated with significant morbidity and impact quality of life and ability to work. Treatment is primarily medical and consists of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications and medications to treat neuropathic pain. Many patient exhaust medical management options and suffer from persistent symptoms. Surgical management of chronic headaches including occipital neuralgia is emerging as a tool to relieve pain and the burden of morbidity associated with this condition. Dr. Bahman Guyuron has been reporting positive results in the literature for the past 20 years. In a systematic review of 14 papers it has been demonstrated that peripheral nerve surgery for migraines is effective and leads to an improvement of symptoms for 86% of patients. Complication rates were low across all studies included. Additionally, Dr Ivica Ducic has reported success specifically treating occipital neuralgia headaches, with significant improvements in subjective pain outcomes post-operatively. The mechanism behind this is thought to be similar to carpal tunnel syndrome, whereby peripheral nerve compression causes nerve irritation and pain. The ensuing inflammatory response to tissue injury can cause sensitization of nociceptors, resulting in hyperalgesia or allodynia. Surgical release of tight surrounding soft tissues results in nerve decompression and relief of symptoms. Although there are multiple case series and empiric evidence supporting the safety and efficacy of occipital migraine surgery, there are no randomized controlled studies comparing surgical intervention with continued medical management. As part of the present study, the investigators intend to randomize patients who have exhausted maximal medical treatment of post-traumatic occipital headaches to either a surgical management group or a continued medical management group. Surgical intervention will consist of neurolysis, or release, of the occipital nerves.
Study identification
- NCT ID
- NCT03253523
- Recruitment status
- Withdrawn
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Not applicable
- Enrollment
- Not listed
Conditions and interventions
Conditions
Eligibility (public fields only)
- Age range
- 18 Years to 65 Years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Healthy volunteers not accepted
This page does not interpret eligibility. Detailed inclusion and exclusion criteria are on the official ClinicalTrials.gov record.
Study timeline
- Start date
- Sep 29, 2019
- Primary completion
- Jan 31, 2021
- Completion
- Jan 31, 2021
- Last update posted
- Mar 9, 2021
2019 – 2021
United States locations
- U.S. sites
- 1
- U.S. states
- 1
- U.S. cities
- 1
| Facility | City | State | ZIP | Site status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rush University Medical Center | Chicago | Illinois | 60612 | — |
Site contact phone numbers, emails, and investigator names are intentionally not displayed here. Open the official ClinicalTrials.gov record for site contact information.
About this trial record page
- What this page shows
- Public field values for ClinicalTrials.gov record NCT03253523, including study identification, conditions, interventions, eligibility (age, sex, healthy volunteer), timeline, and U.S. site list.
- What this page does not do
- No medical advice, eligibility judgments, treatment recommendations, study quality scoring, or AI-generated medical summaries. No site contact phone numbers, emails, or investigator names.
- Where the data comes from
- Sourced from the official ClinicalTrials.gov public API. The official record is the source of truth.
- Last refresh
- Last update posted Mar 9, 2021 · Synced Sep 5, 2026
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Open the official record
The complete protocol, eligibility criteria, and contact information for NCT03253523 live on ClinicalTrials.gov.