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Deer's Treatment of Pain pp 523–529Cite as

Occipital Nerve Stimulation

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Abstract

The past decade has seen a dramatic increase in the use of neuromodulation to treat chronic pain. Peripheral nerve stimulation (PNS) is one of the most diverse and rapidly expanding areas of neuromodulation. The first implantable PNS systems were surgically placed with careful dissection and fascial grafting; however, it has become commonplace to use percutaneous methods. The ease of this minimally invasive percutaneous approach leads to a broader adoption of the therapy and expanded PNS treatments for chronic pain. The first percutaneous peripheral nerve stimulators were reported in 1999. Cylindrical leads were implanted to stimulate the greater occipital nerve allowing successful treatment of intractable headaches. The application of PNS has expanded to treat neuropathic, visceral, cardiac, abdominal, low back, and facial pain. New technologies that allow easier and safer electrode placement are expected to further expand the uses of PNS. Chronic primary headaches are widespread disorders which tremendously reduce quality of life and can be very resistant to pharmacological treatments. Neuromodulation procedures have been shown to successfully target not only these central headache syndromes but also pain pathology in painful peripheral structures.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Interventional Pain Physicians, Chico, CA, USA

    Lucas W. Campos

Authors
  1. Lucas W. Campos
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. The Spine and Nerve Center of the Virginias, Charleston, WV, USA

    Timothy R. Deer

  2. Evolve Restorative Center, Santa Rosa, CA, USA

    Jason E. Pope

  3. Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA

    Tim J. Lamer

  4. Pain Diagnostics and Interventional Care, Sewickley, PA, USA

    David Provenzano

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Campos, L.W. (2019). Occipital Nerve Stimulation. In: Deer, T., Pope, J., Lamer, T., Provenzano, D. (eds) Deer's Treatment of Pain. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-12281-2_63

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-12281-2_63

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-12280-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-12281-2

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