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Research Study of Greater Occipital Nerve Block As A Treatment For Prolonged Migraine Attacks

Double-Blind, Placebo Controlled Trial Of Greater Occipital Nerve Block For The Treatment Of Migraine Status

Status
Terminated
Phases
NA
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT00329732
Enrollment
2
Registered
2006-05-25
Start date
2006-03-31
Completion date
2006-04-30
Last updated
2015-05-06

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Migraine

Brief summary

Greater Occipital Nerve Blocks (GONB) are a common procedure used for the treatment of headache. The GONB procedure involves a series of injections into the greater occipital nerve (a spinal nerve located at the back of your head). The purpose of this study is to determine whether GONB is effective for the treatment of prolonged migraine attacks. This study is placebo controlled, which means that half of the patients participating will receive injections of active study drug (lidocaine plus bupivicaine) and half of the patients will receive injections of saline (placebo). The study is also blinded which means that neither you nor the study staff will know whether you received active study drug or placebo. The study remains blinded only for the first 30 minutes, at which point additional treatments (including GONB) can be administered at the discretion of your treating physician. 40 patients are expected to participate in this research study. This study is being conducted at Thomas Jefferson University only.

Interventions

DRUG0.5% bupivicaine and 2% lidocaine

The injectors will infiltrate an area of 2cm along the occipital ridge centering around the occipital artery or around the site 1/3 from the mastoid to the inion. If the subject has a bilateral headache or the headache is known to switch sides then the block will be performed bilaterally. If the headache is strictly unilateral, the block will be performed only on the side of the headache

DRUGSaline placebo

matching volume of saline (placebo)

Sponsors

Thomas Jefferson University
Lead SponsorOTHER

Study design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
DOUBLE (Subject, Investigator)

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to 80 Years
Healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

* Subjects, male or female, between the ages of 18 and 80 years old (inclusive) with a previous diagnosis fulfilling IHS criteria for episodic migraine * Presenting to clinic in migraine status, meaning the migraine has continued for greater than or equal to 3 days but less than 3 months. * Pain must be reported as at least moderate pain level at time of injections

Exclusion criteria

A subject is ineligible to participate in this study if he/she satisfies any of the following criteria: * Subjects who have received greater occipital nerve blocks in the past * Subjects who in their own or the investigator's opinion are unable to describe their symptoms * Subjects who are pregnant or lactating

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frame
Percentage of Patients Experiencing Significant Change on a 4 Point Pain Scale at 30 Minutes Post-injection, Active Drug Versus Placebo. Significant Change is Defined as a Change on the 4 Point Pain Scale From Moderate or Severe to Mild. No Pain Equals 0.30 minutes

Secondary

MeasureTime frame
Secondary Measures Include:Percentage of Subjects Achieving a Significant Change on a 10 Point Pain Scale at 30 Minutes Post-injection, Active Drug Versus Placebo;30 minutes
Percentage of Subjects Achieving a Significant Change on a 100mm Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) at 30 Minutes Post-injection, Active Drug Versus Placebo. Significant Change is Defined as a Greater Than or Equal to 2cm Change.30 minutes
Percentage of Subjects Achieving Resolution of Associated Symptoms of Nausea, Vomiting, Photophobia, Phonophobia, Osmophobia, Allodynia Measured During the First 30 Minutes Post-injection, Active Drug Versus Placebo;30 minutes

Countries

United States

Participant flow

Participants by arm

ArmCount
Lidocaine/Bupivicaine2
Saline (Placebo)0
Total2

Baseline characteristics

CharacteristicLidocaine/BupivicaineTotal
Age, Categorical
<=18 years
0 participants0 participants
Age, Categorical
>=65 years
0 participants0 participants
Age, Categorical
Between 18 and 65 years
2 participants2 participants
Gender
Female
2 participants2 participants
Gender
Male
0 participants0 participants
Region of Enrollment
United States
2 participants2 participants

Adverse events

Event typeEG000
affected / at risk
EG001
affected / at risk
deaths
Total, all-cause mortality
— / —— / —
other
Total, other adverse events
0 / 20 / 0
serious
Total, serious adverse events
0 / 20 / 0

Outcome results

Primary

Percentage of Patients Experiencing Significant Change on a 4 Point Pain Scale at 30 Minutes Post-injection, Active Drug Versus Placebo. Significant Change is Defined as a Change on the 4 Point Pain Scale From Moderate or Severe to Mild. No Pain Equals 0.

Time frame: 30 minutes

Population: No analysis was done. Study was terminated.

Secondary

Percentage of Subjects Achieving a Significant Change on a 100mm Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) at 30 Minutes Post-injection, Active Drug Versus Placebo. Significant Change is Defined as a Greater Than or Equal to 2cm Change.

Time frame: 30 minutes

Secondary

Percentage of Subjects Achieving Resolution of Associated Symptoms of Nausea, Vomiting, Photophobia, Phonophobia, Osmophobia, Allodynia Measured During the First 30 Minutes Post-injection, Active Drug Versus Placebo;

Time frame: 30 minutes

Secondary

Secondary Measures Include:Percentage of Subjects Achieving a Significant Change on a 10 Point Pain Scale at 30 Minutes Post-injection, Active Drug Versus Placebo;

Time frame: 30 minutes

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026