Research and Awards
Dedicated to helping patients achieve a better quality of life, Kenneth Reed, M.D. and the partner physicians at Reed Migraine Centers’ continue to engage in pioneering research in their quest for effective, safe treatment of debilitating head pain.
We are continuing to conduct ongoing research projects related to advanced pain and dysfunction therapies. A larger study involving combined supraorbital and occipital nerve stimulation headache treatment techniques was recently concluded. The study will be published in the near future. Please check back for more information about this and other studies.
Safety and efficacy of peripheral nerve stimulation of the occipital nerves for the management of chronic migraine: Results from a randomized, multicenter, double-blinded, controlled study
Chronic migraine (CM) is a debilitating neurological disorder with few treatment options. Peripheral nerve stimulation (PNS) of the occipital nerves is a potentially promising therapy for CM patients.
Methods: In this randomized, controlled multicenter study, patients diagnosed with CM were implanted with a neurostimulation device near the occipital nerves and randomized 2:1 to active (n=105) or sham (n=52) stimulation. The primary endpoint was a difference in the percentage of responders (defined as patients that achieved a "50% reduction in mean daily visual analog scale scores) in each group at 12 weeks.
Results: There was not a significant difference in the percentage of responders in the Active compared with the Control group (95% lower confidence bound (LCB) of #0.06; p=0.55). However, there was a significant difference in the percentage of patients that achieved a 30% reduction (p=0.01). Importantly, compared with sham-treated patients, there were also significant differences in reduction of number of headache days (Active Group=6.1, baseline=22.4; Control Group=3.0, baseline=20.1; p=0.008), migraine-related disability (p=0.001) and direct reports of pain relief (p=0.001). The most common adverse event was persistent implant site pain.
Conclusion: Although this study failed to meet its primary endpoint, this is the first large-scale study of PNS of the occipital nerves in CM patients that showed significant reductions in pain, headache days, and migraine-related disability. Additional controlled studies using endpoints that have recently been identified and accepted as clinically meaningful are warranted in this highly disabled patient population with a large unmet medical need.
Combined Occipital and Supraorbital Neurostimulation for the Treatment of Chronic Migraine Headaches: Initial Experience
Download the award-winning study submitted to the International Headache Society in 2009.
Peripheral Neurostimulation for Control of Intractable Occipital Neuralgia
During a case study attempting treatment of patients with intractable occipital neuralgia, percutaneous peripheral nerve electrostimulation subcutaneously at the level of C1 appeared to be a reasonable alternative to more invasive surgical procedures following the failure of more conservative therapies.
The Cephalalgia Award for the Reed Procedure℠ Study
Research by Kenneth Reed, M.D. and Dr. Kelly Will earned the prestigious Cephalalgia Award, presented by the editors of Cephalalgia, the medical journal of the International Headache Society. In addition to receiving a certificate of award, Dr. Reed and Dr. Will were invited to present the paper to the annual congress of the International Headache Society, which occurred in September 2009. The paper was well received and published in March 2010.
The International Headache Society comprises top neurology headache specialists from around the world. The journal receives hundreds of original articles each year from top academic centers, including Stanford, Cambridge and Johns Hopkins. It is an uncommon honor for a physician in private practice to have a paper accepted for publication in the Cephalalgia Journal.
The significance of the award and the publication of the Reed Procedure℠ paper, combined with the recognition it received from the medical community, shows the promise this procedure holds for future treatment of head pain.
Combined Supraorbital (SONS) and Occipital Nerve Stimulation (ONS) in Failed Surgical Treatment of Migraine: Case Report and Review of the Literature (ABSTRACT)
We detail a patient who had failed surgical treatment for chronic migraine. Our objective was to see if Combined Supraorbital Stimulation (SONS) and Occipital Nerve Stimulation (ONS) could result in improvement of the migraines despite neuro-destructive techniques applied to the peripheral nerves.