According to the latest study published in the “Headache” Journal, a statistically significant reduction was noted in the self-reported pain over 30 minutes was observed in SM patients who received SPG block.

Regional anaesthetic suprazygomatic SPG block is an approach which efficaciously provides an immediate comfort from SM. The disease involves migraine attacks which last for more than 72 hours and is unable to manage via abortive and counter medicines. The pain and autonomic symptoms in patients with migraine show a significant association with the sphenopalatine ganglion (SPG). Therefore, blocking SPG through an approach like transnasal lidocaine assists in SM treatment. But, blocking SPG via transnasal lidocaine is not well tolerated, which lead to inconsistent outcomes. To solve this issue, Dev Mehta and colleagues evaluated the effects and safety of another approach called suprazygomatic injection SPG block in reducing SM related autonomic symptoms and pain. The identification of patients for analysis was made as per the International Headache Society Criteria.

A total of 68 women and 20 men who did not respond against two or more abortive drugs and later went through suprazygomatic injection were selected. Likert scale (1 to 10) is used to rate pain both before and 30 minutes after the suprazygomatic injection. A total of 252 administrations of suprazygomatic injections were done in an outpatient headache clinic. Patients showed a 67.2% decline in pain with a median diminution of 5 points on the Likert scale. The IQR (Inter-Quartile Range) noticed was -6 to -3. Based on these outcomes, patients exhibited a considerable decrease in migraine (P < .0001). Although the exact role of SPG in pain generation and cause migraine is still not crystal clear, its blockage via regional anaesthetic suprazygomatic injections plays a crucial role in migraine management.