Tuesday, July 2, 2013

What's in a Name?


As occipital and peripheral nerve stimulation for headaches become more popular, doctors and companies are rushing to put their name on the process.  This can be a bit confusing as it seems some procedures now have several different names.

Technically, an occipital nerve stimulator covers only the occipital nerve.  A peripheral nerve stimulator covers any nerves, particularly smaller unnamed branches.  But doctors are finding that a combination of these seems to be the most successful, placing leads on both the occipital nerve (at the base of the skull) and on the supraorbital nerve (across the forehead).  This particular placement has been coined as the "Reed Procedure," the "Transforma Procedure," and the "Omega Procedure." They are all essentially the same thing.

Hopefully one day a single name will stick and be used to avoid confusion but for now be aware that there are several names floating around which all mean the same thing.