I have had cluster headache for around 20 years, continuously chronic since 2012. Most recently, I had about two attacks a day, with devastating pain of severity 10, despite high-dose verapamil prophylaxis and triptans. After four Axomera treatments in twelve days, I have remained symptom-free ever since.
Patient · chronic cluster headache, approximately a 20-year history — a clearly labelled individual case.
From the practice's records, with consent. A personal experience, not a treatment promise.
Documented individual cases, with patient consent. Individual outcomes differ.
Many of our patients have years behind them: misdiagnoses, emergency room visits in the middle of the night, triptans up to the limit of application, ever-new prophylaxis regimens — and the feeling of not being taken seriously with their own pain.
We carefully check your history first before we suggest Axomera therapy. As a reference centre for the method, patients travel from all over Germany, Austria, and Switzerland for this — especially for cluster headache.
From our patient consultations and the medical reports submitted.
Almost always in this order.
Cluster attacks typically affect one side of the head, concentrated behind and around the eye. Patients frequently describe the pain as the most severe imaginable. Accompanied by eye redness, tearing, a runny or blocked nose on the same side, and pronounced restlessness — many cannot sit or lie down during an attack.
Episodic cluster headaches occur preferably in spring and autumn. Episodes typically last 6–12 weeks with 1–8 attacks daily, followed by remissions often lasting several months. About 10–15% of those affected develop a chronic form without sufficient remission phases — either primarily chronic or as an "evolved" form from a previously episodic progression.
Before therapy comes clear classification: primary headache or secondary cause (imaging to exclude). Important differential diagnoses include, in particular, trigeminal neuralgia and SUNCT syndrome. We record previous findings, imaging, and attack patterns and compare them with ICHD criteria — before we talk about therapy options.
If you are unsure whether the diagnosis or the previously chosen therapy fits your situation: we examine previous findings in a structured manner and provide a specialist second opinion. Even if, in the end, a treatment other than Axomera is the appropriate one.
Request second opinion →
Prof. Molsberger developed Axomera therapy and published research on cluster headache together with the cell biologist Colin McCaig (J Pain Res 2020). At the reference centre, you are treated by the medical team led by Prof. Molsberger.
Every therapy needs its own examination — for us, this includes the Axomera diagnostics and the Axomera therapy.
In cluster headache, the hypothalamus is considered the central pacemaker, which triggers the characteristic attacks via a trigeminal autonomic reflex loop. This self-activating loop runs via the inflamed, irritated trigeminal branches with painful endpoints in the area of the forehead, eye, jaw, and neck. These endpoints are accessible from the outside for Axomera therapy.
Axomera is a neuromodulative procedure: computer-controlled electrical signals in the dimension of cellular electrical fields are placed millimetre-precisely at these accessible points. The goal is to raise the irritation threshold of the trigeminal autonomic loop — and thus to interrupt the self-stabilising attack rhythm. The number and intensity of the attacks decrease.
How inflammation and pain are connected →The goal is relief — in a favourable case, a remission. How far this succeeds depends on the individual progression.
Inflammation has an electrical dimension. Axomera starts exactly there.
Axomera is an internationally patented bioelectrical procedure.
How Axomera therapy works →As a reference centre, we ourselves contribute to the scientific basis of cluster headache. Two peer-reviewed studies in which we were involved are central to this: a first-time mapping of where cluster pain originates, and an evaluation of how patients respond to bioelectric stimulation.
Until now, cluster pain has been broadly classified as being "behind the eye". Our work has, for the first time, broken down the pain according to the timing of the attack — separating the onset, the peak, and the radiation. The result: at onset and peak, the pain is concentrated around the eye socket; however, certain points outside of this — especially in the neck and the lower jaw area — occur more frequently at the beginning of the attack than at its peak. This map provides the anatomical basis for targeting treatment early and precisely. The evaluation is based on a large dataset: 5,260 individual reports on 44 pain locations from 631 affected individuals.
Schröder P, Gaul C, Drabik A, Molsberger A. Pain localization in cluster headache patients: onset, peak, and radiation. Acta Neurol Scand 2021. PMID 33523462. DOICircle size = frequency of mention. Largest concentration periorbital/temporal (right side of head); the highlighted point on the lower jaw (left side of head, point 40) appeared notably frequently even at the onset of an attack.
In our retrospective case series of 20 chronic cluster patients (2014–2018), the average number of attacks per day fell from 2.8 to 1.7 after four weeks, and from 2.2 to 0.7 for the 14 responders; after one year, 13 out of 20 patients showed a reduction of at least 50%, ten of whom were attack-free.
Classification: hypothesis-generating retrospective case series, not a controlled study.
* Of 6 non-responders, 4 had previously undergone surgery. Individual clinical courses differ.
Molsberger A, McCaig CD. Percutaneous Bioelectric Current Stimulation for Chronic Cluster Headache — A Possible Transformative Approach. J Pain Res 2020;13:817–828. PMID 32425586. DOI
A German patient in his early 60s had suffered since 1996 from a strictly left-sided, chronic relapsing cluster headache. Over the course of the illness, he received 41 cortisone pulse therapies while on continuous verapamil prophylaxis; imaging was unremarkable. Acute treatment was provided with oxygen and triptans each time. His last episode in 2020 was the most treatment-resistant over nine months. It escalated to intravenous prednisolone (1000 mg) without benefit. After 9 more days of the most intense attacks, Axomera therapy was started with five sessions at weekly intervals (occipital and trigeminal target points). Following this, the average attack intensity was halved, severe attacks disappeared, and the episode ended abruptly — last attack on 23 April 2020, after the fourth session.
The case has been submitted for publication in a peer-reviewed scientific-medical journal.
Explanation of the case by the treating physician.
Developer of Axomera therapy · Medical Director
As the developer of Axomera therapy, he oversees the indication and is involved in your treatment personally upon request. His experience in conservative pain medicine informs the planning of your treatment series.
Doctor, orthopaedics & trauma surgery (in specialist training)
Performs your Axomera treatment and accompanies you throughout the entire treatment series. He reviews your findings and assesses whether the procedure is suitable for you. He also participates in the technical development.
Doctor, Specialist in Orthopaedics and Trauma Surgery
Organises your previous findings, performs Axomera diagnostics, and accompanies you throughout the entire treatment series. He reviews your findings and, based on his experience, assesses whether the procedure is suitable for you.
Three ways to reach us, around the clock, directly here on the site. For each, you can upload doctor's letters, findings, and MRI images at the same time — encrypted into your file, reviewed by a doctor before we speak.
Ten minutes with a doctor. Free of charge.
Medical assessment via video.
Examination, Axomera diagnostics, plan, costs.
Are you traveling from further away? Start with 01 or 02. Only when it is clear that Axomera is suitable for you do we plan the journey — condensed into a few days. Available internationally as a concierge service upon request.
Prefer personal contact? Call: +49 211 866880
Our practice treats exclusively by prior appointment.
The telephone initial assessment is not a treatment and does not replace an examination. Whether Axomera is suitable for you will be decided after a medical examination.
