STELLATE GANGLION BLOCK TO TREAT CRPS
The stellate ganglion is a nervous component of the sympathetic nervous system located at the 7th cervical vertebra. When a CRPS (complex regional pain syndrome) is originated in the head, upper limb or chest, a stellate ganglion block can be performed.
The first part of the treatment will involve an anaesthetic block (injection of a small amount of anaesthetic), which will reveal whether the stellate ganglion is involved in the pain of that particular patient or not. In some cases it can be curative, but often the anaesthetic block will have to be repeated.
When the anaesthetic block has been effective but has stopped being so, the stellate ganglion can be destroyed using phenol or RF. However, this implies the partial drop of the eyelid on the side that has been operated, and the pupil of the eye on the side that has been operated will become smaller than the pupil of the other eye. These changes are not reversible, unlike those made by the anaesthetic block, so it must be avoided, as much as possible, to apply a lesive treatment on the stellate ganglion.
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Puncture of the stellate ganglion
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Anaesthetic block on the stellate ganglion
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Radiological confirmation of stellate ganglion block
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Anaesthetic block on the stellate ganglion
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