Use of anesthesiological technologies in the complex treatment of cervicocranial pain syndromes

: Four hundred and eighty-four patients with pain syndromes of cervicocranial localization, such as migraine, exercise-induced headache, cervicogenic headache, trigeminal neuralgia, trigeminal neuropathy, and occipital neuralgia were observed. The patients were randomized by the type, intensity, and duration of the pain syndrome and subdivided into two subgroups in each of the study nosological entities. The patients from control groups received the conventional complex therapy including drug (nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, central myorelaxants, anticonvulsants, and antidepressants depending on the type of a pain syndrome) and non-drug (physiotherapy, massage, and therapeutic exercises) ones. The patients were examined before, during, and after a course of therapy and comprised neurological and neuroorthopedic examinations; pain rating by the visual-analogue and the rank scale, and neuroimaging and electrophysiologic techniques. Comparison of the results obtained in the respective subgroups has indicated that anesthetic modes and reflex exposures in the complex therapy is an effective and safe procedure for relieving pain in the head and neck. Medicinal blocks arrest pain at shorter notice, reduce the single and daily doses of the used drugs and, in some cases, avoid their administration, thus, preventing their side effects, improve the quality of life, and increase the social activity of patients with cervicocranial pain syndromes.