ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Pain Res.
Sec. Headache
Volume 6 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpain.2025.1556654
Ultrasound-guided Block of Superior Cervical Ganglion for Migraine Attack: A Propensity Score-matched Retrospective Study
Provisionally accepted
- 1Shougang Hospital, Health Science Centre, Peking University, Beijing, Beijing Municipality, China
- 2Xuanwu Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Background: To examine efficacy and safety of ultrasound (US)-guided superior cervical ganglion (SCG) block in conjunction with standard triptan in management of migraine attack.Methods: Reviews of 243 subjects receiving adjunctive US-guided SCG block to triptan for migraine attack were retrieved as SCG cohort. A 1:1 propensity score based on baseline covariates was used to match 243 cases receiving triptan alone as control.Primary endpoints were pain relief and freedom from pain within 24 hours after procedure. Secondary outcomes included headache relief and freedom from pain within 2 hours, monthly migraine days (MMDs), migraine disability assessment (MIDAS) scores, migraine-specific quality of life questionnaire (MSQ) scores and adverse events.Results: Pain relief and freedom from pain at 24-hour after block was higher in SCG cases than controls (73.3% vs. 49.4%, with mean difference of 23.9% (95% confidence interval (CI): 15.5%, 29.0%) and 64.2% vs. 37.4%, with MD=26.7% (95%CI: 18.2%, 31.3%)). Superiority was met, as 95%CI fell within superiority margin of 15%. Higher rates of pain relief and freedom from pain at 2 hours following procedure were reported in SCG cohort (both p < 0.001). At 1-month follow-up, the SCG cohort had a greater improvement in MMDs (p < 0.01), MIDAS scores (p = 0.040) and MSQ scores (p = 0.036). There were no severe adverse events in SCG blockade.Conclusions: US-guided SCG block with triptan was superior over triptan alone in achieving headache remission for migraine attack up to 24 hours, resulting in reduced migraine days, improved functional ability and life quality at 1 month follow-up.
Keywords: Migraine attack, Superior cervical ganglion block, ultrasound, monthly migraine days, Migraine disability
Received: 07 Jan 2025; Accepted: 23 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Yue, Guo, Yang and He. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Liangliang He, Xuanwu Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.