Bilateral Sphenopalatine Ganglion Block With or Without Bilateral Greater Occipital Nerve Block for Treatment of Obstetric Post-Dural Puncture Headache

Post-dural puncture headache is a common complication, following neuraxial techniques. The obstetric population is particularly prone to PDPH. Therefore, treatment of PDPH is a key issue in obstetric anesthesia. Conservative treatment for PDPH includes adequate hydration, systemic analgesia with paracetamol and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and increased caffeine intake, as well as bed rest. If these measures are unsuccessful, the gold standard for the treatment of PDPH is the epidural blood patch which is an invasive technique. The use of nerve blocks for treating headache symptoms are well known techniques that have been previously used for managing some specific types of chronic headache such as cervicogenic headache, cluster headache, migraine, and occipital neuralgia and there are some recently published studies reporting that these blocks may be beneficial in treating PDPH and the available evidence although showing improvements in the visual analogue (VAS) scores and a reduced number of patients requiring an epidural blood patch, but it is still poor. Less invasive techniques such as SPG block and GONB are attractive therapeutic options which may eliminate the need for EBP in obstetric patients suffering from PDPH. Up to the best of our knowledge this is the first randomized trial to investigate the analgesic efficacy of adding SPG block either alone or in combination with GONB to PDPH treatment.