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A Review of the Use of Stellate Ganglion Block in the Treatment of PTSD

  • Military Mental Health (CH Warner, Section Editor)
  • Published:
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Abstract

Current treatments for PTSD are often not effective or acceptable to the patient. There are a number of emerging new treatments. One promising new one is stellate ganglion block, an anesthetic treatment for pain which relieves symptoms of severe and chronic PTSD in some patients. The focus of this chapter is to summarize clinical evidence available for the effectiveness of cervical sympathetic ganglion injection called stellate ganglion block (SGB), as well as demonstrate possible clinical applications of its use. Cervical sympathetic blockade involves injecting a local anesthetic next to a group of nerves (ganglion) in the neck. The technique has been used clinically since 1925 with very few side effects. Finally, the neurobiology of SGB is discussed. Challenges to the use of SGB include the lack of randomized clinical trials and practitioners familiar with the use of SGB for PTSD.

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Conflict of Interest

Eugene Lipov and Elspeth Cameron Ritchie declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Advanced Pain Centers, 2260 W Higgins Rd Ste 101, Hoffman Estates, IL, 60169, USA

    Eugene Lipov

  2. Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, 4301 Jones Bridge Road, Bethesda, MD, 20814, USA

    Elspeth Cameron Ritchie

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  1. Eugene Lipov
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  2. Elspeth Cameron Ritchie
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Correspondence to Elspeth Cameron Ritchie.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Military Mental Health

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Lipov, E., Ritchie, E.C. A Review of the Use of Stellate Ganglion Block in the Treatment of PTSD. Curr Psychiatry Rep 17, 63 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-015-0599-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-015-0599-4

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