Surgical Treatment for Cluster Headache

If the patient's headache has always been on one side of the head (that is the usual case with cluster headache) and the patient has not benefited from proper medical treatment, we then may recommend radiofrequency trigeminal rhizotomy, a surgical treatment for intractable cluster headache. This surgical procedure is very precisely aimed at the pain carrying fibers of the trigeminal nerve. In the last 18 years, the Houston Headache Clinic has submitted 120 patients for this procedure with very impressive results. But, this surgery is done only in intractable cases as there is are side effects to the surgical procedure. These side effects include numbness involving the face and scalp on the side of the surgery and a lack of ability to feel pain in that area. There will be loss of corneal sensation as well. Apart from that discomfort, there is no other major abnormality detected after surgery.

The Houston Headache Clinic has extensive experience with surgical treatment for cluster headache, with an almost 75% to 80% success rate.