Effect of Greater Occipital Nerve Block in Patients with Ocular Neuropathic Pain: A Retrospective Observational Study

Abstract Background:Ocular neuropathic pain (ONP) has various etiologies and substantially decreases the quality of life of patients. Theclinical management of patientswith ONP has been debated. Based on the convergence in the trigeminocervical complex, this study evaluated the effect of repeated greater occipital nerve block (GONB) for ONP. Methods:Two hundred and four patients received a GONB every two weeks, up to 10 times. The posttreatmentoutcomes were measured using a pain relief scale at the next visit, with the first visit as the baseline (10). Results: The differences and magnitude of decrease in the overall pain relief scale score (estimate=-0.55, p<0.001) were statistically significant. The changes in pain relief scale scores of eye pain (-0.54, p<0.001), dysesthesias/allodynia (-0.52, p<0.001), noneye pain (-0.39, p<0.001), visual disturbance (-0.38, p<0.001) and tearing (-0.52, p<0.001) were also statistically significant between the assessment time points. Conclusions:Although it is premature to recommend repeated GONB for the management of ONP, it can be used as an effective technique. Trial registration: Registered this study in the Clinical Research Information Service of Republic of Korea (no. KCT0007615) on October 26, 2022