ID: 215795 Occipital Nerve Stimulator After Cervical Fusion for Cervicogenic Headaches

Abstract

A 50-year-old male with severe multilevel cervical degenerative disc disease and disc herniation requiring discectomy and fusion at C3- T1 presented to the clinic due to constant severe headaches for 3 months post-surgery. He had throbbing pain mainly located along the cervical paraspinals and occipitalis. He tried multiple oral pain medications with minimal relief. The patient had also tried multiple occipital nerve blocks with minimal relief. The pain was thought to be originating from the cervical fusion coming specifically from the C2-C3. The third occipital nerve is the superficial medial branch of the C3 dorsal ramus. It supplies part of the semispinalis capitis muscle leading to the occipital neuralgia that he was experiencing. It was thought the patient would be a great candidate for an occipital nerve stimulator. The nerve stimulator leads were placed in a horizontal orientation at the base of the skull across from where the greater occipital nerve emerges.