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Stellate Ganglion Block Reduces Anxiety Symptoms by Half: A Case Series of 285 Patients

The stellate ganglion block (SGB) procedure has been used successfully for over twelve years to treat thousands of patients suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Level 1b evidence supports this use of SGB, but no studies to date have reported specifically on anxiety symptom improvemen...

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Autores principales: Lynch, James H., Mulvaney, Sean W., Bryan, Craig J., Hernandez, David
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10303073/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37373947
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/jpm13060958
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author Lynch, James H.
Mulvaney, Sean W.
Bryan, Craig J.
Hernandez, David
author_facet Lynch, James H.
Mulvaney, Sean W.
Bryan, Craig J.
Hernandez, David
author_sort Lynch, James H.
collection PubMed
description The stellate ganglion block (SGB) procedure has been used successfully for over twelve years to treat thousands of patients suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Level 1b evidence supports this use of SGB, but no studies to date have reported specifically on anxiety symptom improvements following SGB. We collected Generalized Anxiety Disorder questionnaire (GAD-7) scores pre-procedure and at 1-week and 1-month post-procedure from 285 patients. The mean baseline GAD-7 score of 15.9 (indicating severe anxiety) declined significantly following SGB treatment. Changes in GAD-7 scores ≥ 4 were considered clinically meaningful. From baseline to 1 week, the GAD-7 scores dropped by 9.0 points (95% CI = 8.3–9.7, p < 0.001, d = 1.8), with 211 (79.6%) patients demonstrating clinically meaningful improvement. Furthermore, from baseline to 1 month, the GAD-7 scores dropped by 8.3 points (95% CI = 7.6–9.0, p < 0.001, d = 1.7), with 200 (75.5%) patients demonstrating clinically meaningful improvement. The stellate ganglion block treatment resulted in a decrease of GAD-7 scores of over twice the minimal clinically important difference in treating anxiety for at least 1 month following SGB. Given the results from this retrospective observational study, larger prospective studies should be conducted to determine the effects of SGB treatment as a novel therapeutic treatment for generalized anxiety disorder and other anxiety disorders.
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spelling pubmed-103030732023-06-29 Stellate Ganglion Block Reduces Anxiety Symptoms by Half: A Case Series of 285 Patients Lynch, James H. Mulvaney, Sean W. Bryan, Craig J. Hernandez, David J Pers Med Brief Report The stellate ganglion block (SGB) procedure has been used successfully for over twelve years to treat thousands of patients suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Level 1b evidence supports this use of SGB, but no studies to date have reported specifically on anxiety symptom improvements following SGB. We collected Generalized Anxiety Disorder questionnaire (GAD-7) scores pre-procedure and at 1-week and 1-month post-procedure from 285 patients. The mean baseline GAD-7 score of 15.9 (indicating severe anxiety) declined significantly following SGB treatment. Changes in GAD-7 scores ≥ 4 were considered clinically meaningful. From baseline to 1 week, the GAD-7 scores dropped by 9.0 points (95% CI = 8.3–9.7, p < 0.001, d = 1.8), with 211 (79.6%) patients demonstrating clinically meaningful improvement. Furthermore, from baseline to 1 month, the GAD-7 scores dropped by 8.3 points (95% CI = 7.6–9.0, p < 0.001, d = 1.7), with 200 (75.5%) patients demonstrating clinically meaningful improvement. The stellate ganglion block treatment resulted in a decrease of GAD-7 scores of over twice the minimal clinically important difference in treating anxiety for at least 1 month following SGB. Given the results from this retrospective observational study, larger prospective studies should be conducted to determine the effects of SGB treatment as a novel therapeutic treatment for generalized anxiety disorder and other anxiety disorders. MDPI 2023-06-06 /pmc/articles/PMC10303073/ /pubmed/37373947 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/jpm13060958 Text en © 2023 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Brief Report
Lynch, James H.
Mulvaney, Sean W.
Bryan, Craig J.
Hernandez, David
Stellate Ganglion Block Reduces Anxiety Symptoms by Half: A Case Series of 285 Patients
title Stellate Ganglion Block Reduces Anxiety Symptoms by Half: A Case Series of 285 Patients
title_full Stellate Ganglion Block Reduces Anxiety Symptoms by Half: A Case Series of 285 Patients
title_fullStr Stellate Ganglion Block Reduces Anxiety Symptoms by Half: A Case Series of 285 Patients
title_full_unstemmed Stellate Ganglion Block Reduces Anxiety Symptoms by Half: A Case Series of 285 Patients
title_short Stellate Ganglion Block Reduces Anxiety Symptoms by Half: A Case Series of 285 Patients
title_sort stellate ganglion block reduces anxiety symptoms by half: a case series of 285 patients
topic Brief Report
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10303073/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37373947
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/jpm13060958
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