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Current Evidence in Migraine Surgery: A Systematic Review
Sara Henriques1, Alexandre Almeida, Helena Peres
1From the Department of Surgery and Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, Porto University.
Annals of Plastic Surgery
|October 6, 2021
Summary
Migraine surgery, a neurovascular disorder treatment, offers significant symptom improvement and elimination for many patients. This safe procedure is recommended for those unresponsive to traditional medical treatments.
Area of Science:
- Neurology
- Neurosurgery
- Ophthalmology
Background:
- Migraine is a prevalent neurovascular disorder with substantial socioeconomic burden.
- Pharmacological treatments are ineffective for a subset of migraine patients.
- Surgical decompression of extracranial sensory nerves is a proposed alternative, yet faces medical community reluctance.
Purpose of the Study:
- To systematically review the efficacy and safety of extracranial migraine surgery.
- To evaluate the impact of migraine surgery on patient quality of life and long-term costs.
Main Methods:
- Systematic review conducted following PRISMA guidelines.
- Electronic database search (PubMed, ScienceDirect, CENTRAL, Google Scholar) in September 2020.
- Inclusion of 52 original articles reporting outcomes on migraine surgery from 922 identified studies.
Main Results:
- Significant improvement reported in 58.3% to 100% of patients.
- Complete migraine elimination achieved in 8.3% to 86.8% of patients across studies.
- No major complications were reported in the reviewed literature.
Conclusions:
- Extracranial migraine surgery is an effective and safe procedure.
- The surgery positively impacts patients' quality of life and reduces long-term costs.
- Migraine surgery should be considered for carefully selected patients refractory to medical management.
