Guidance
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has issued full guidance to the NHS in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland on Deep brain stimulation for intractable trigeminal autonomic cephalalgias.
NICE has also published guidance on deep brain stimulation for refractory chronic pain syndromes (excluding headache) (NICE interventional procedure guidance 382, March 2011).
Description
Trigeminal autonomic cephalalgias (TACs) are characterised by frequent severe headache attacks that last for short periods. The headaches are usually accompanied by tears, sweating, flushing, and a runny nose on the same side of the head as the pain. Deep brain stimulation has been introduced to treat TACs that do not respond to other treatments. It aims to mask the pain by delivering electrical impulses to a precise area of the brain using an electrode.
Guidance development process
How we develop NICE interventional procedures guidance
Coding and clinical classification codes for this guidance