Chronic headaches and middle meningeal artery embolization

Area of Science:

• Neurology
• Interventional Radiology
• Neurosurgery

Background:

• The middle meningeal artery (MMA) is linked to chronic headaches.
• No prior studies have investigated MMA embolization for headache treatment.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of MMA embolization in resolving or improving chronic headaches in patients with chronic subdural hematoma (cSDH).

Main Methods:

• Retrospective analysis of patients treated for cSDH with MMA embolization (2018-2020).
• Follow-up calls assessed chronic headache history (≥2 years) and symptoms (≥2 days/month).
• Headache Impact Test-6 (HIT-6) scores were recorded before and after embolization.

Main Results:

• Of 46 analyzed patients, 9 (20%) had pre-existing chronic headaches.
• Eight of nine patients reported headache improvement, with seven experiencing complete resolution post-embolization.
• Mean HIT-6 scores significantly decreased from 64.0 to 40.0 (p<0.001) after MMA embolization.

Conclusions:

• MMA embolization appears effective in improving chronic headaches in patients with cSDH.
• Further prospective research is recommended to confirm MMA embolization's utility for treating chronic headaches.