Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Pathophysiology and Diagnosis of Nerve Compression Headache

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Surgical Treatment of Chronic Headaches and Migraines

  • 432 Accesses

Abstract

Compression of extracranial nerves may result in chronic, medically refractory headaches and neck pain. Recently discovered anatomic connections between the extracranial space and intracranial trigeminal pathways may provide a conduit by which the extracranial pathology of the sensory nerves of the face, scalp, and neck may lead to headaches that are often accompanied by migraine-like features of photophobia and nausea. Nerve compression headaches have a unique presentation that follows from the mechanism and pathophysiology of nerve compression, and the diagnosis may be made on the basis of careful history and the physical examination.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
eBook
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 69.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 99.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Bibliography

  1. Bovim G, Fredriken TA, Stolt-Nielsen A, Sjaastad O. Neurolysis of the greater occipital nerve in cervicogenic headache. A follow-up study. Headache. 1992;32(4):175–9.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Magnusson T, Ragnarsson T, Bjornsson A. Occipital nerve release in patients with whiplash trauma and occipital neuralgia. Headache. 1996;36(1):32–6.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Guyuron B, Tucker T, Davis J. Surgical treatment of migraine headaches. Plast Reconstr Surg. 2002;109(7):2183–9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Janis JE, Barker JC, Javadi C, Ducic I, Hagan R, Guyuron B. A review of current evidence in the surgical treatment of migraine headaches. Plast Reconstr Surg. 2014;134(4 Suppl 2):131S–41S.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Guyuron B, Reed D, Kriegler JS, Davis J, Pashmini N, Amini S. A placebo-controlled surgical trial of the treatment of migraine headaches. Plast Reconstr Surg. 2009;124(2):461–8.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Mathew N. Pathophysiology of chronic migraine and mode of action of preventive medications. Headache. 2011;51s2:84–92.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Dodick DW, Turkel CC, DeGryse RE, Aurora S, Silberstein SD, Lipton RB, Diener H-C, Brin MF. Onabotulinum toxin A for treatment of chronic migraine: pooled results from the double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled phases of the PREEMPT clinical program. Headache. 2010;50:921–36.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Puledda F, Goadsby P. An update on non-pharmacological neuromodulation for the acute and preventive treatment of migraine. Headache. 2017;57(4):685–91.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Goadsby PJ, Reutr U, Hallstron Y, Boressner G, Bonner JH, Zhang F, Sapra S, Picard S, Picard H, Mikol DD, Lenz RA. A controlled trial of Erenumab for episodic migraine. N Engl J Med. 2017;377(22):2123–32.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Tepper S, Ashina M, Reuter U, Brandes JL, Dolezil D, Silberstein S, Winner P, Leonardi D, Mikol D, Lenz R. Safety and efficacy of erenumab for preventive treatment of chronic migraine: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase 2 trial. Lancet Neurol. 2017;16(6):425–34.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. ICHD-3. Headache classification Committee for the International Headache Society (HIS) the international classification of headache disorders, 3rd edition. Cephalalgia. 2018;38(1):1–211.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Cutrer FM. Pathophysiology of migraine. Semin Neurol. 2006;26(2):171.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Diamond S, Bigal M, Silberstein S, Loder E, Reed M, Lipton R. Patterns of diagnosis and acute and preventive treatment for migraine in the United States: results from the American Migraine Prevalence and Prevention Study. Headache. 2007;47(3):355–63.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Bigal ME, Serrano D, Buse D, Scher A, Steward W, Lipton R. Acute migraine medications and evolution from episodic to chronic migraine: a longitudinal population-based study. Headache. 2008;48:1157–68.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Manack A, Buse DC, Serrano D, Turkel CC, Lipton RB. Rates, predictors and consequences of remission from chronic migraine to episodic migraine. Neurology. 2011;76:711–8.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Scher A, Stewart W, Liberman J, Lipton R. Prevalence of headache in a population sample. Headache. 1998;38(7):497–506.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Buse DC, Manack AN, Manning K, Serrano D, Reed ML, Turkel CC, Lipton RB. Chronic migraine prevalence, disability and sociodemographic factors: results from the American Migraine Prevalence and Prevention Study. Headache. 2012;52(10):1456–70.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. GBD 2016 Neurological Disorders Collaborator Group. Global, regional and national burden of neurological disorders, 1990-2016: a systematic analysis for the global burden of disease study 2016. Lancet Neurol. 2019;18:459–80.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Hadjikhani N, Sanchez Del Rio M, Wu O, Schwartz D, Bakker D, Fischl B, Kwong KK, Cutrer FM, Rosen BR, Tootell RB, Sorensen AG, Moskowitz MA. Mechanisms of migraine aura revealed by functional MRI of the human visual cortex. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2001;98(8):4687–92.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Kosaras B, Jakubowski M, Kainz V, Burstein R. Sensory innervation of the calvarial bones of the mouse. J Comp Neurol. 2009;515(3):331–48.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  21. Schueler M, Messlinger K, Dux M, Neuhuber WL, De Col R. Extracranial projections of meningeal afferents and their impact on meningeal nociception and headache. Pain. 2013;154(9):1622–31.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Schueler M, Neuhuber WL, De Col R, Messlinger K. Innervation of the rat and human dura mater and pericranial tissues in the parieto-temporal region by meningeal afferents. Headache. 2014;54:996–1009.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Noseda R, Melo-Carrillo A, Nir RR, Strassman AM, Burstein R. Non-trigeminal nociceptive innervation of the posterior dura: implications to occipital headache. J Neurosci. 2019;39(10):1867–80.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Perry CJ, Blake P, Buettner C, Papavassiliou E, Schain AJ, Bhasin MK, Burstein R. Upregulation of inflammatory gene transcripts in periosteum of chronic migraineurs: implications for extracranial origin of headache. Ann Neurol. 2016;79(6):1000–13.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. Schmid AB, Coppieters MW, Ruitenberg MJ, McLachlan EM. Local and remote immune-mediated inflammation after mild peripheral nerve compression in rats. J Neuropathol Exp Neurol. 2013;72(7):662–80.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  26. Tang ZY, Shu B, Cui XJ, Zhou CJ, Shi Q, Holz J, Wang YJ. Changes of cervical dorsal root ganglia induced by compression injury and decompression procedure: a novel rat model of cervical radiculoneuropathy. J Neurotrauma. 2009;26(2):289–95.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Berini SE, Spinner RJ, Jentoft ME, Engelstad JK, Staff NP, Suanprasert N, Dyck JB, Klein CJ. Chronic meralgia paresthetica and neurectomy: a clinical pathologic study. Neurology. 2014;82(17):1551–5.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Blake P, Burstein R. Emerging evidence of occipital nerve compression in unremitting head and neck pain. J Headache Pain. 2019;20:76.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  29. Blake P, Rony-Reuven N, Perry CJ, Burstein R. Tracking patients with chronic occipital headache after occipital nerve decompression surgery: a case series. Cephalalgia. 2019;39(4):556–63.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Mackinnon SE, Dellon AL, Hudson AR, Hunter DA. A primate model for chronic nerve compression. J Reconstr Microsurg. 1985;1:185–95.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  31. Ganguly P, Brenhouse HC. Broken or maladaptive? Altered trajectories in neuroinflammation and behavior after early life adversity. Dev Cogn Neurosci. 2015;11:18–30.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Anda R, Tietjen G, Schulman E, Felitti V, Croft J. Adverse childhood experience and frequent headaches in adults. Headache. 2010;50(9):1473–81.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Janis JE, Barker JC, Palettas M. Targeted peripheral nerve-directed Onabotulinum toxin a injection for effective long-term therapy for migraine headache. Plast Reconstr Surg Glob Open. 2017;5(3):e1270.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Stewart WF, Lipton RB, Whyte J, Dowson A, Kolodner K, Liberman JN, Sawyer J. An international study to assess reliability of the migraine disability assessment (MIDAS) score. Neurology. 1999;53(5):988–94.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Headache Center of River Oaks, Houston, TX, USA

    Pamela Blake

  2. Department of Neurology, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Memorial Hermann Greater Heights Hospital, Houston, TX, USA

    Pamela Blake

Authors
  1. Pamela Blake
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Pamela Blake .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Associate Professor, Division of Plastic Surgery, University of Wisconsin - Madison, Madison, WI, USA

    Ahmed M. Afifi

  2. Plastic and Peripheral Nerve Surgeon, Peled Plastic Surgery, San Francisco, CA, USA

    Ziv M. Peled

  3. Professor of Plastic Surgery, Neurosurgery, Neurology, and Surgery Chief of Plastic Surgery, University Hospital Ohio State University, Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, OH, USA

    Jeffrey E. Janis

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Blake, P. (2020). Pathophysiology and Diagnosis of Nerve Compression Headache. In: Afifi, A., Peled, Z., Janis, J. (eds) Surgical Treatment of Chronic Headaches and Migraines. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-36794-7_1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-36794-7_1

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-36793-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-36794-7

  • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation