Sphenopalatine / Glossopharyngeal / Trigeminal Nerve Blocks

A Sphenopalatine Ganglion block is a minimally invasive procedure used to treat head and facial pain. While the procedure itself is short and performed in your doctor’s office, it requires a great deal of technical proficiency and very few physicians are trained on how to do it. A sphenopalatine ganglion block is an established treatment method of a wide variety of pain syndromes:

• Trigeminal Neuralgia
• Sphenopalatine neuralgia
• Migraine headaches
• Cluster headaches
• Atypical facial pain
• Cancer pain of the head and neck
• Tongue and mouth pain
• Temporomandibular joint (TMJ) pain2
• Sluder’s neuralgia
• Paroxysmal hemicrania

Other possible therapeutic uses reported in literature include:

• Herpes Zoster
• Postherpetic neuralgia
• Vasomotor rhinitis
• Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS)
• Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD)
• Post-traumatic headache

Benefits

The Sphenopalatine ganglion block is a safe, effective and established procedure for treating refractory head and face pain. Any patient suffering from facial pain, chronic headaches, trigeminal neuralgia and the like will attest to how debilitating their pain can be. Classically, these types of pain are treated with a series of medications, cycling from one to another based on trial and error. Most medications are ineffectual and those that are effective either have intolerable side effects or are the fourth or fifth medication tried. This life-changing procedure can offer immediate relief and potentially allow pain sufferers to avoid the nuisance of daily medications.