Dr. Branch began performing migraine surgery in 2002 shortly after visiting and speaking with a family physician and migraine sufferer in Cleveland, OH. He proclaimed he had been “cured” after having surgery at the hands of Br. Branch’s long-time mentor, Dr. Bahman Guyuron. A bit of serendipity brought Dr. Branch his first migraine patient who was a chronic sufferer that had been seen at multiple headache centers around the country, including month-long admissions for intractable pain. She became immediately pain-free after her surgery in Bangor. With her subsequent exposure on news TV and various publications, the Northeastern Migraine Surgery Center began. Since then over 74 patients have been seen from 18 states as well as internationally from as far away as Dubai. Over 296 trigger sites have been treated. This has been done almost entirely in an outpatient setting with patients returning home or to their hotel the same day. Gradually, migraine surgery has gained a foothold in mainstream care with Dr. Branch now seeing many patients at the request of neurologists, some of whom have also been his patients.

Patients are evaluated at the new facility near downtown Bangor and have their surgery either at one of the local hospitals or at Dr. Branch’s outpatient surgery center less than a mile from Dr. Branch’s office. The success rate for the treatment is 90% which implies at least a 50% reduction of migraine disease. Approximately 35% of patients no longer experience headaches. The first patient mentioned above has gone from chronic daily headaches to ONE headache over the span of 9 years since the day of her surgery.