Three-Month Durability of Bilateral Two-Level Stellate Ganglion Blocks for Traumatic Brain Injury: A Retrospective...

Area of Science:

• Neurology
• Pain Management
• Regenerative Medicine

Background:

• Chronic mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) presents persistent neurobehavioral symptoms.
• Stellate ganglion blocks (SGBs) are being investigated for TBI symptom management.
• Previous research has not extensively evaluated bilateral, two-level SGBs for TBI.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the efficacy of ultrasound-guided, bilateral, two-level stellate ganglion blocks (2LCSBs) in improving chronic mild TBI symptoms over three months.
• To evaluate neurobehavioral symptom changes using the Neurobehavioral Symptom Inventory (NSI) scores.
• To investigate potential sex-based differences in treatment outcomes.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective chart review of 41 patients (28 males, 13 females) with chronic TBI.
• Patients received bilateral, two-level cervical sympathetic chain blocks (2LCSBs) on subsequent days.
• NSI scores were collected at baseline and at one week, one, two, and three months post-treatment.

Main Results:

• 85.36% of patients showed improvement in NSI scores, and 87.8% improved in NSI sub-scores.
• Average decrease in total NSI scores was 48.44% from baseline.
• No statistically significant differences in outcomes were observed between males and females.

Conclusions:

• Bilateral 2LCSBs demonstrate potential for rapid and sustained improvement in TBI symptoms for up to three months.
• The procedure appears effective regardless of patient sex.
• Further research is required to establish a causal relationship between 2LCSBs and TBI symptom improvement.