Mr. TL, 42 yrs old male had been suffering from Migraine for last 11 years. For past 4-5 years it had become intractable. He experienced attacks for 15-20 days in a month, sometimes on the left and sometimes on the right. There could be multiple attacks during the day leaving him significantly disabled for 8-10 hours. Apart from medical treatment, he had also tried Botulinum Toxin treatment without much benefit.
As his work was significantly affected by his disease condition, he agreed to undergo Occipital Nerve (ON) stimulation procedure. As this patient qualified for ON stimulation, we went ahead and implanted two eight contact point electrodes in this patient overlying the GON. They have been connected to a pacemaker implanted on the chest wall. The pacemaker delivers current to stimulate the GON through the electrodes. Whenever the patient gets a Migraine attack he can switch on the pacemaker and control his migraine.
It has been now two years and the patient has been off drugs for the past week and has not suffered any lasting Migraine attacks. For one year he has not been on any medications or has not even required to use the pacemaker.