MedTrace Logo

Greater Occipital Nerve Block for Spontaneous Intracranial Hypotension

NCT06374524 · Status: RECRUITING · Type: OBSERVATIONAL · Enrollment: 34

Last updated 2026-01-16

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

Spontaneous Intracranial Hypotension (SIH) is a debilitating neurological disorder caused by a cerebrospinal fluid leak (CSF), with an estimated incidence of 5 per 100,000 persons per year, of which mostly women between the ages of 35 years and 55 years. The typical presentation is moderate-to-severe orthostatic headache and several other possible neurological symptoms, that significantly impact patients' quality of life.

Treatment of SIH usually starts with conservative measures, consisting of strict supine bed rest, hydration, caffeine, and simple analgesics. The vast majority of patients will require invasive treatments for their CSF leak, such as epidural blood patches, fibrin glue patches, endovascular coiling, and/or surgical repair. These specialized treatments are only offered in tertiary care centers and require specialized personnel and resources, which implicates a certain waiting time for the patients before permanent treatment is offered. In the meantime, due to the lack of an effective and accessible alternative, patients continue to suffer.

The greater occipital nerve block (GONB) has been reported as a simple, safe, and effective treatment to provide short-to-intermediate term relief of migraine, cervicogenic headache, cluster headache, occipital neuralgia, and more recently, post-dural puncture headaches (PDPH). As the pathophysiology of intracranial hypotension caused by SIH or PDPH is very similar, it is stipulated that the effect of GONB will be similar for SIH patients. However, to date, no studies exploring the efficacy of GONB for SIH have been performed.

The investigators propose to do a prospective observational study to explore the outcome of GONB for SIH. GONB can serve as a bridge therapy to control the debilitating headache of SIH while patients are awaiting permanent SIH treatment. Moreover, GONB can be performed by physicians of different specialties including neurology, which makes it an accessible treatment for all patients. Lastly, by offering better symptom control, this intervention could potentially restore patients' ability to work and reduce healthcare costs.

Conditions

  • Spontaneous Intracranial Hypotension

Interventions

PROCEDURE

greater occipital nerve block

Patients will receive an ultrasound-guided bilateral GONB (distal approach) of 5 mLs of injectate of bupivacaine 0.25% (5 mLs) + depomedrol 40 mg in 1 mL (3 mLs to each side).

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • University Health Network, Toronto

    lead OTHER

Eligibility

Min Age
18 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2024-08-01
Primary Completion
2027-12-31
Completion
2027-12-31

Countries

  • Canada

Study Locations

More Related Trials

Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT06374524 on ClinicalTrials.gov