Faculty

Stephen P. Merry, M.D.

Clinical Studies

Efficacy of Peripheral Nerve Blocks for Acute Episodic Migraine Treatment and Prophylaxis Rochester, Minn.
The purpose of this study is to compare whether anesthetizing multiple peripheral nerves of the scalp in the distribution of acute migraine headache pain (also known as multiple peripheral nerve block (MPNB)) provides more acute headache pain relief than greater occipital nerve block (GONB) alone. Also, to compare whether patients that received MPNB for acute migraine treatment have improved longer-term headache prophylaxis than patients that received GONB.

Additionally to determine whether there are fewer missed work/school/life activity days in the 12 weeks following nerve block for patients that received MPNB compared to patients that received GONB, and compare whether there are fewer Emergency Room/Clinic visits for headache in the 12 week follow up for patients that received MPNB compared to patients that received GONB.
RADIO-KO: The Randomized Clinical Trial of Low-Dose Radiotherapy for Knee Osteoarthritis Rochester, Minn.
The primary aim of this study is to investigate whether low-dose radiotherapy is an effective treatment to reduce the pain and functional limitations of knee osteoarthritis. A secondary aim is to determine whether patients experience any more measurable side effects than those receiving sham treatments.

DERMaSensor Study of Primary Care Physician Use of An Adjunctive Tool Utilizing Elastic-Scattering Spectroscopy (ESS) on Skin Lesions Suggestive of Skin Cancer (DERM-SUCCESS) Rochester, Minn.
The objective of this study is to investigate the sensitivity and specificity of the DermaSensor device in evaluating skin lesions suggestive of melanoma, basal cell carcinoma, and squamous cell carcinoma, and to compare the sensitivity of DermaSensor to that of dermatopathology and primary care physicians' empiric diagnosis.
Efficacy of Intralesional Vitamin D Injection for Treatment of Common Warts: A Randomized Controlled Trial Rochester, Minn.
The purpose of this study is to explore the effectiveness of intralesional vitamin D injection into cutaneous warts by comparing the rates of wart improvement and resolution between a population randomly selected to receive either blinded Vitamin D wart injections or placebo.