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- Neurodegenerative disease research projects secure international collaborative funding
- Novel treatments for epilepsy
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- Professor Alan Thompson appointed as Dean of UCL Faculty of Brain Sciences
- Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging student receives Young Researcher Award
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- Study reveals genetic clues underlying progressive supranuclear palsy
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- Four UCL neuroscientists elected to the Academy of Medical Sciences
- May 25 Marks World MS Day
- Prion infection begins after one minute of exposure
- Successes of Deep Brain Stimulation for patients with Parkinson's disease
- Professor Hanna invited to give prestigious ANZAN Lecture
- Severe reaction to epilepsy drug linked to genetic variant
- Rhythm and the perception of time
- How prions propagate
- Understanding how the brain determines coincidence
- Lancet papers testament to clinical impact and significance of neuroscience research at UCL
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- Researchers identify 5 new genetic variations in total of 11 thought to be important in Parkinson’s Disease risk
- IoN scientist receives prize to promote German-Anglo relations
- IoN News Archive (2010)
- IoN News Archive (2009)
- IoN launches new website
- Professor Hardy receives IFRAD 2011 European Grand Prize for Alzheimer's Research
- Epilepsy surgery shows promising results, says study
- Scientists make step towards better understanding of the brain's teaching signals
- UCL scientists get £88k boost to study hearing problems in Alzheimer’s
- Professor Jon Driver
- Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging researcher scoop Lloyd’s 2011 Science of Risk Prizes
- Launch of the UCL Institute of Neurology YouTube channel
- Researchers move closer to finding successful drugs to treat Huntington’s disease
- Imaging the evolution of multiple sclerosis
- Brain changes seen in cabbies who take 'The Knowledge'
- Professor Brown gives Annual Stroke Association Royal Lecture
- New Institute Director
- Wolfson Foundation awards £20million to UCL for experimental neurology centre
- Thinking of studying at UCL next year?
- Brain Implant Cures Woman's Tourette's Tics
- New Years Honours
- Professor Ray Dolan elected Fellow of the APS
- Major new funding for research into epilepsy is announced
- New funding to preserve unique archives
- Queen Square Clinical Trial Centre launched
- Detecting stroke
- Are we hard wired to be rebellious?
- The Performing Brain – A moving story? Friday 16th March
- Professor Ray Dolan gives the prestigious Alan Turing Lecture
- Institute scientist takes his research to Parliament
- Prime Minister visits UCL Institute of Neurology
- International project to determine vascular contribution to neurodegeneration begins
- Prestigious European Science Foundation networking grant awarded to Institute of Neurology professor
- Clinical Teaching Awards 2011/12
- Cultural Consultation Service website launches
IoN EVENTS
Third International Workshop on Functional Neurosurgery: Movement Disorders, Pain, Psychiatric Illness, Ethics
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Advanced Neurology Short Courses May 2012
Published: Jan 20, 2012 2:42:50 PM
New hope for cluster headache sufferers
24 December 2010
Patients who suffer from severe cluster headaches are being offered new hope thanks to a revolutionary treatment at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery (NHNN).
The pain of cluster headaches (CH) is notoriously excruciating and usually described as one of the most distressing conditions known to mankind. Female patients describe attacks as worse than childbirth and patients are occasionally driven to suicide. Attacks last between 15 minutes and three hours and can occur up to eight times a day.
For a small group of CH patients there has been no solution. Until now.
The treatment, known as deep brain stimulation, is already used to treat other neurological conditions such as Parkinson’s disease and dystonia. In CH patients, it is used to target a part of the brain (the posterior hypothalamus) which is overactive during the headaches. An electrode is inserted into the brain and linked to a stimulator under the chest. When the stimulator is switched on, an electric current passes into the brain, blocking the damaging signals that cause cluster headaches.
This new method of treating cluster headaches follows on from pioneering research at Queen Square, where the NHNN and the nearby Institute of Neurology at UCL are housed.
The research, which goes back a decade, pinpointed a particular region of the brain (the posterior hypothalamus) and studies revealed the presence of increased blood flow in this region during a cluster headache attack, a sure sign of increased activity.
Early pilot results of DBS in a small number of patients with unremitting chronic cluster headaches were very encouraging and this led two consultants, neurologist Manjit Matharu and neurosurgeon Ludvic Zrinzo to introduce the procedure at the NHNN.
Mr Matharu and Mr Zrinzo said: “We are really excited about the early indications from using DBS in this way. Patients who suffer from this excruciating condition come to us at their wits’ end and for many of them we are a last resort. Unless you have experienced cluster headaches you cannot underestimate the impact they have on the lives of sufferers and their families. If we can help them in any way it’s immensely rewarding,” they said.
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