Occipital nerve stimulation (ONS). Surgical technique and prevention of late electrode migration.

Occipital nerve stimulation (ONS) is an emerging procedure for the treatment of cranio-facial pain syndromes and headaches refractory to conservative treatments. The aim of this report is to describe in detail the surgical intervention and to introduce some useful tricks that help to avoid late displacement and migration of the suboccipital leads. The careful description of the surgical steps may contribute to a standardization of the procedure and make the interpretation of results easier even if obtained in series of patients operated on by different authors.