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Background: Refractory chronic migraine affects approximately 4% of the population worldwide and results in severe pain, lifestyle limitations, and decreased quality of life. Occipital nerve stimulation (ONS) refers to the electric stimulation of the distal branches of greater and lesser occipital nerves; the surgical technique has previously been described and has demonstrated efficacy in the treatment of a wide variety of headache disorders. Objectives: The aim of this study is to evaluate the long-term efficacy and tolerability of ONS for medically intractable chronic migraine. Study Design: Prospective, long-term, open-label, uncontrolled observational study. Setting: Single public university hospital. Methods: Patients who met the International Headache Society criteria for chronic migraine, all of them having been previously treated with other therapeutic alternatives, and who met all inclusion and exclusion criteria for neurostimulation, received the implantation of an ONS system after a positive psychological evaluation and a positive response to a preliminary occipital nerve blockage. The implantation was performed in 2 phases: a 10 day trial with implanted occipital leads connected to an external stimulator and, if more than 50% pain relief was obtained, permanent pulse generator implantation and connection to the previously implanted leads. After the surgery, the patients were thoroughly evaluated annually using different scales: pain Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), number of migraine attacks per month, sleep quality, functionality in social and labor activities, reduction in pain medication, patient satisfaction, tolerability, and reasons for termination. The average follow-up time was 9.4 ± 6.1 years, and 31 patients completed a 7-year follow-up period. Results: Thirty-seven patients were enrolled and classified according to the location and quality of their pain, accompanying symptoms, work status, and psychological effects. Substantial pain reduction was obtained in most patients, and the VAS decreased by 4.9 ± 2.0 points. These results remained stable over the followup period. Five of the 35 permanently implanted patients with migraine attacks at baseline were free from these attacks at their last visits, whereas the pain severity decreased 3.8 ± 2.5 (according to the VAS) in the remaining patients. Seven of the 35 permanent implanted devices were definitively removed: 2 devices because of treatment inefficacy, and 5 devices because the patients were asymptomatic and considered to be cured from their pain, even with the stimulation off. Systemic side effects were not observed. Limitations: Limitations of the current study include its uncontrolled and open-label design. Additionally, not all patients completed the 7-year follow-up period. Conclusions: We consider that the trigemino-cervical autonomous and cervical connection may explain why ONS might relieve chronic migraine pain, but this is just a theoretical explanation which should be demonstrated in future studies. The results achieved in this study suggest that ONS may provide longterm benefits for patients with medically intractable chronic migraine. These outcomes are slightly better than previous reports and were maintained over the 7-year follow-up. We believe that an accurate selection of patients, realization of diagnostic occipital nerve blocks, psychological evaluations, rigorous surgical technique, and appropriate parameter programming helped us achieve these outcomes. Key words: Refractory chronic migraine, headache, occipital nerve stimulatino, peripheral nerve stimulation, occipital nerve block

Ischemic stroke as a presenting manifestation of essential thrombocythemia is probably underrecognized. The diagnosis of thrombocythemia should not be excluded on the basis of platelet counts lower than 600 x 10(9)/L. The availability of in vitro culture of hematopoietic progenitors from peripheral blood makes it possible to diagnose early and atypical cases.

Prevalence and risk factors of vertebral fractures in postmenopausal RA women were assessed in 323 patients and compared with 660 age-matched women. Of patients, 24.15% had at least one vertebral fracture vs.16.06% of controls. Age, glucocorticoids and falls were the main fracture risks. Vertebral fractures were associated with disease severity. Introduction There is little quality data on the updated prevalence of fractures in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) that may have changed due to advances in the therapeutic strategy in recent years. This study was aimed at analysing the prevalence and risk factors of vertebral fractures in postmenopausal women with RA and comparing it with that of the general population. Methods We included 323 postmenopausal women diagnosed with RA from 19 Spanish Rheumatology Departments, randomly selected and recruited in 2018. Lateral radiographs of the thoracic and lumbar spine were obtained to evaluate morphometric vertebral fractures and the spinal deformity index. We analysed subject characteristics, factors related to RA, and fracture risk factors. The control group consisted of 660 age-matched Spanish postmenopausal women from the population-based Camargo cohort.Results Seventy-eight (24.15%) RA patients had at least one vertebral fracture. RA patients had increased fracture risk compared with controls (106 of 660, 16.06%) (p = 0.02). Logistic regression analysis showed that age (OR 2.17; 95% CI 1.27-4.00), glucocorticoids (OR 3.83; 95% CI 1.32-14.09) and falls (OR 3.57; 95% CI 1.91-6.86) were the independent predictors of vertebral fractures in RA patients. The subgroup with vertebral fractures had higher disease activity (DAS28: 3.15 vs. 2.78, p = 0.038) and disability (HAQ: 0.96 vs. 0.63, p = 0.049), as compared with those without vertebral fractures. Conclusion The risk of vertebral fracture in RA is still high in recent years, when compared with the general population. The key determinants of fracture risk are age, glucocorticoids and falls. Patients with vertebral fractures have a more severe RA.

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