Halo360® Procedure

 Halo360®  Procedure (Trial Procedure)
The Halo360® procedure is a revolutionary innovative surgical technique that provides long-lasting relief for people who suffer from chronic, debilitating headaches. Let’s walk through the steps of how to get there – how together we can defeat your migraine pain.

1. Consultation.
Our staff meets with you to understand your medical and migraine history. We want to understand how your migraines prevent you from enjoying the life you lead. We talk in-depth about the procedure and whether it might be right for you and discuss the results of conventional migraine treatments you have experienced

2. Insurance.
Our dedicated Insurance specialist will then work with you to obtain pre-authorization for the medical procedures that will come. This can take up to four weeks, but we carry the ball on this process and keep you informed along the way.

3. Halo360® Trial Procedure…take a test drive.
Yes, that’s what we mean. Before fully implanting a system we conduct a trial. In an outpatient procedure, micro-fine neurostimulators are implanted around the painful areas of your entire head and controlled through an external monitor. It’s done to judge how effective neurostimulation is at controlling your pain and to determine which nerves of the head are the actual pain generators. It lasts for up to seven days during which time you have direct control to the soothing current the system produces. It allows you determine which settings treat your pain most effectively. That’s why we call it a test drive – you get to drive the system.

4. Trial Results
You meet with your doctor to discuss your experience during your trial. Did neurostimulation reduce your headache pain? With the superior technology of HALO system it is typical for the vast majority of patients to realize a substantial reduction in pain over the course of the trial period. We expect that 80% of those candidates that have undergone a trial will find long term migraine relief from the permanent Halo Procedure®.

5. Insurance approval
The Halo360® is a neurostimulator procedure which is not FDA approved. The use of neurostimulation technology has been FDA approved for spinal cord stimulation to treat lower back pain for over twenty years. Neurostimulation has been approved for head pain in Europe where it was given European CE approval in 2011. This does not mean that insurance companies will not pay for the procedure. On the contrary, many insurers will pay for a treatment that, in the long run, will save on medical treatment costs. Once again, we carry the ball here and work to get pre-authorized insurance coverage for the permanent procedure.

6. Permanent Placement
Ultra-fine wires are placed around your head and attached to a tiny battery powered microprocessor computer which is usually implanted in your lower back. It’s important to know that the wires are not put inside your skull or on your brain. They are placed just under your skin and are not visible to you or others. The wire uses 32 tiny electrodes to intercept 12 separate nerves that can transmit pain impulses to your brain. After programming the tiny computer with your personal migraine profile, it starts intercepting the headache pain impulses travelling through these nerves and replaces them with vibrational waves of soothing energy. Essentially the neurostimulator system hacks the pain spikes and replaces them with smooth electrical current.

7. Recovery and follow up
You return to your normal activities within a couple of days – minus that one thought, ‘when will your next migraine arrive’? Since the whole system is implanted, you charge and maintain you stimulator without wires. No one, including yourself can tell it has been implanted.