A 2024 comprehensive review found SGB efficacy for PTSD symptoms ranges from 70–83% of treated patients achieving clinically significant positive outcomes across the full range of existing studies
Stellate Ganglion Block in Southside Place, TX: Rapid Relief for PTSD, Anxiety, and Trauma
Southside Place measures 0.2 square miles and holds a population of fewer than 2,000 people — which makes it one of the most densely accomplished communities in the Houston metro. The 13th wealthiest location in Texas by per capita income, entirely surrounded by Houston, home to physicians, researchers, attorneys, and executives who chose this enclave specifically because they recognize quality and prefer to live within walking distance of it. Catalyst Health & Wellness’s South Loop clinic at 6300 West Loop S sits inside Bellaire’s city limits, minutes from Southside Place’s borders. The procedure available there — stellate ganglion block — is now recognized by Circulation: Arrhythmia and Electrophysiology, the journal of the American Heart Association, as effective for drug-refractory ventricular arrhythmia. That same stellate ganglion, addressed through the same procedure, is also the anatomical target for PTSD, anxiety, and trauma-related dysregulation. Dr. Ho, board-certified anesthesiologist and former pediatrician, performs this ultrasound-guided procedure at Catalyst Health & Wellness for Southside Place residents and patients from West University Place, Bellaire, Upper Kirby, the Medical Center corridor, and inner-loop Houston. Open 5am–9pm, seven days a week.
Southside Place One Procedure Two Domains
Southside Place’s resident physicians, researchers, and medical professionals are accustomed to the way knowledge advances at the edges of specialties before reaching the center. Stellate ganglion block is a procedure that has been traveling exactly that path: established in pain medicine and cardiology for decades, now entering psychiatry’s evidence base with compelling force.
The American Heart Association’s journal Circulation: Arrhythmia and Electrophysiology published a study confirming that percutaneous SGB “effectively attenuated electrical storm in more than half of patients” with drug-refractory ventricular arrhythmia. The mechanism: the stellate ganglion governs sympathetic outflow to the myocardium — the electrical activity of the heart is regulated in part through the same sympathetic nerve cluster that governs threat response in PTSD. By temporarily blocking that outflow, SGB quiets the overactivated sympathetic signals driving both cardiac arrhythmia and PTSD’s hyperarousal. For Southside Place’s medical community, the cross-specialty recognition of a single anatomical target is exactly the kind of mechanism coherence that distinguishes genuine clinical advances from adjacent specialty curiosities.
That same mechanism — sympathetic blockade at the stellate ganglion, allowing NGF to normalize, norepinephrine to drop, and the amygdala’s hyperresponsiveness to recalibrate — is what produces the PTSD and anxiety improvements that the 2020 JAMA Psychiatry RCT confirmed with Level 1B evidence. Whether the application is cardiac or psychiatric, the stellate ganglion is doing the same thing: coordinating the sympathetic system. And Dr. Ho, board-certified anesthesiologist, is the physician whose core training makes him specifically qualified to perform the block correctly in either context.
What is Stellate Ganglion Block?
The stellate ganglion — formed by the fusion of the inferior cervical and first thoracic ganglia at the base of the neck — is one of the most consequential relay nodes in the human autonomic nervous system. Its sympathetic outflow governs cardiac electrical activity, blood vessel tone, thermoregulation, and the threat-response circuitry of the amygdala simultaneously. In PTSD and anxiety, trauma drives the sympathetic overdrive that maintains amygdala hyperresponsiveness and keeps the body physiologically prepared for a threat that passed long ago. In cardiac electrical storm, the same sympathetic overdrive maintains the arrhythmic threshold that medication alone cannot suppress. In both cases, the stellate ganglion is the anatomical node where that overdrive can be directly interrupted.
Research consistently shows powerful results:
What Our Patients Say
How Stellate Ganglion Block Works
For Southside Place's medically sophisticated population, the cross-specialty mechanism deserves a complete explanation.
Resetting the Sympathetic Nervous System
The stellate ganglion governs sympathetic outflow to three primary domains simultaneously: the cardiac system (electrical activity, heart rate, arrhythmia threshold), the vascular system (blood vessel tone, peripheral circulation), and the central autonomic network (amygdala threat-detection, hypothalamic stress regulation). In cardiac electrical storm, the AHA literature confirms that "the autonomic nervous system has an important role in the triggering and maintenance of ventricular arrhythmia" — and that "suppressing sympathetic activity may be imperative for controlling" it. That is precisely the same sympathetic overactivation that maintains PTSD's hyperarousal cluster.
The mechanism in PTSD: trauma elevates nerve growth factor, driving sympathetic nerve sprouting, sustaining elevated norepinephrine, maintaining amygdala hyperresponsiveness. SGB interrupts this cascade at the stellate ganglion — reducing NGF, lowering norepinephrine, and allowing the amygdala to recalibrate. The mechanism in cardiac electrical storm: excessive sympathetic outflow to the myocardium lowers the threshold for ventricular arrhythmia. SGB interrupts the same outflow — reducing the sympathetic signal sustaining the arrhythmia. One procedure, one anatomical target, two specialty applications. The coherence isn't coincidental — it reflects the stellate ganglion's actual function as a sympathetic coordination node.
Reducing Brain Inflammation and Hyperactivity
Beyond the immediate sympathetic reset, SGB produces downstream changes in the amygdala's function. VA neuroimaging researchers at Long Beach documented measurable changes in amygdala activity following SGB using functional imaging in 2015 — correlating those imaging changes with symptom improvement in PTSD. The amygdala, in PTSD, is chronically hyperresponsive: treating neutral stimuli as threatening, driving emotional reactivity, and sustaining the hyperarousal that makes sustained high-functioning work and genuine personal relaxation difficult to access simultaneously.
For Southside Place's medical and research professionals — whose work demands sustained precision, clear judgment under pressure, and the ability to be genuinely present in both professional and personal domains — the amygdala's chronic hyperactivation carries real cognitive and relational costs. SGB's recalibration of that system isn't just symptom reduction. It's the restoration of resources that PTSD has been consuming.
Conditions We Treat with Stellate Ganglion Block Near Southside Place
SGB addresses sympathetic nervous system dysregulation across a range of conditions. At Catalyst Health & Wellness, we offer SGB for:
PTSD
Rapid relief from hyperarousal, hypervigilance, and trauma symptoms
Read MoreAnxiety Disorders
Reducing the physical manifestations of severe anxiety
Read MorePanic Disorder
Calming the fight-or-flight response that drives panic attacks
Read MoreCombat-Related Trauma
Extensively studied in military populations with strong results
Read MoreComplex Trauma
Addressing symptoms from prolonged or repeated traumatic experiences
Read MoreTrauma with Physical Symptoms
Especially effective when anxiety manifests physically
Read MoreSGB integrates powerfully with Catalyst's other treatments. Many Southside Place-area patients combine SGB with ketamine therapy, Spravato, or TMS for comprehensive treatment of complex presentations.
Your Stellate Ganglion Block Journey at Catalyst Health & Wellness
Every step has been structured for clinical precision and genuine accessibility for Southside Place patients minutes from the South Loop clinic.
Step 1: Free Phone Consultation
No cost, no commitment. A clinical team member discusses your complete history — including any relevant medical history, prior treatment attempts, and what you’re specifically hoping to change. You receive an honest clinical assessment of whether SGB is appropriate, including if it isn’t.
Step 2: Medical Evaluation
Dr. Ho conducts a thorough pre-procedure evaluation: medical history, current medications, cardiac history if relevant, prior procedures, and contraindication review. For patients with cardiac history, this assessment is especially thorough. Every question is addressed before any commitment is made.
Step 3: Day of Procedure
Budget two to three hours at the clinic. Arrange transportation — post-procedure driving isn’t advisable. Comfortable clothing with accessible collar area. Normal eating unless instructed otherwise.
Step 4: The SGB Procedure
Dr. Ho uses real-time ultrasound imaging to visualize the stellate ganglion and surrounding anatomy before needle placement — blood vessels, nerves, and tissue planes identified before the needle is introduced. Skin is numbed first. The anesthetic is delivered under continuous imaging guidance. The injection takes approximately 15–20 minutes. Warmth, slight hoarseness, or a sense of physical release confirm the block is working. Right-sided SGB is the primary approach for psychiatric indications; the laterality and technique are discussed during your evaluation.
Step 5: Recovery & Observation
One to two hours of monitored recovery follows. Temporary Horner syndrome effects — drooping eyelid, hoarseness, warmth on the treated side — indicate successful stellate ganglion interruption and resolve within hours. Our team remains present throughout.
Step 6: Assessing Response & Follow-Up
Changes typically emerge within hours to days. Our team follows up to track response and determine next steps: a second procedure two weeks later, maintenance scheduling, or complementary treatment options at Catalyst.
The Science Behind Stellate Ganglion Block
A systematic review published in Chronic Stress examined 17 published studies on SGB for psychiatric disorders, finding preliminary evidence supporting feasibility for treating sympathetic nervous system dysregulation conditions. Improvements were observed within 5 minutes and lasted one month or longer.
The 2020 randomized controlled trial in JAMA Psychiatry enrolled 113 active-duty service members across three military hospitals. Two SGBs two weeks apart produced a mean PTSD symptom reduction of −12.6 points versus −6.1 for sham — establishing Level 1B clinical evidence for SGB in PTSD, the highest clinical standard yet achieved for this procedure.
The AHA Circulation: Arrhythmia and Electrophysiology study — examining percutaneous SGB in patients with electrical storm due to drug-refractory ventricular arrhythmia — found that “stellate ganglion block effectively attenuated electrical storm in more than half of patients without procedure-related complications.” The researchers confirmed that “the autonomic nervous system has an important role in the triggering and maintenance of ventricular arrhythmia, especially in electrical storm” and that “suppressing sympathetic activity may be imperative for controlling ventricular arrhythmia.” This cardiology literature’s confirmation of the stellate ganglion’s central sympathetic regulation role provides independent mechanistic validation for why the same procedure also addresses PTSD’s sympathetic dysregulation.
Key research findings:
- The same anatomical mechanism that enables SGB to attenuate cardiac electrical storm — suppressing the stellate ganglion’s overactivated sympathetic outflow — underlies its effectiveness for PTSD and anxiety
- The 2020 JAMA Psychiatry RCT established Level 1B evidence for SGB in PTSD; the cardiac and pain medicine literature provides decades of independent mechanistic validation for the same procedure
- 70–83% of treated patients achieve clinically significant positive outcomes across the published PTSD and anxiety evidence base — compared to 30–40% remission rates for standard PTSD treatments
- Effects appear within minutes to hours and typically last one month or longer; the 2025 retrospective study confirmed 96% improvement at six-month follow-up
Why Choose Catalyst Health & Wellness for Stellate Ganglion Block Near Southside Place
01
Led by Dr. Ho – Anesthesiology Expertise
The AHA Circulation cardiac literature describes SGB as requiring "a team of anesthesiologists and cardiologists" for proper performance. For the psychiatric application, the anesthesiologist's role is primary: nerve block anatomy knowledge, ultrasound guidance proficiency, and the clinical judgment to manage local anesthetic delivery adjacent to major cervical vascular structures. Dr. Ho's board certification in anesthesiology makes him the physician specifically trained for this procedure. His former career as a pediatrician ensures that clinical precision is paired with genuine patient attentiveness. For Southside Place's physician residents evaluating providers, this credential distinction matters.
02
Ultrasound-Guided Precision
Both the cardiac and psychiatric SGB literature uniformly specifies ultrasound guidance as the procedural standard. Every SGB at Catalyst uses real-time ultrasound imaging. The target anatomy is visualized before needle placement. For a procedure performed in close proximity to carotid arteries and jugular veins, imaging guidance is not optional — it’s the standard of care, and it’s the only approach Dr. Ho uses.
03
Whole-Person Approach
The Woodlands patients often arrive with sophisticated clinical questions about mechanism, response probability, maintenance protocols, and how SGB fits within their broader care picture. Our team engages at that level rather than simplifying past it. Treatment plans are built around your complete history and coordinated with existing psychiatric, psychological, and primary care providers. What this means:
- Individualized clinical assessment based on your specific trauma history and prior treatment response
- Active coordination with your existing care team
- Discussion of how SGB integrates with ongoing therapy for optimal combined outcomes
- Long-term engagement extending beyond the initial induction series
04
Extended Hours & Flexible Scheduling
physicians, researchers, attorneys, and executives managing demanding inner-loop careers don’t have predictable standard-hour windows for appointments. Our 5am to 9pm schedule, Monday through Sunday at all three Houston locations, removes that obstacle. The South Loop clinic minutes from Southside Place is particularly accessible for early morning appointments before Medical Center rounds begin.
05
Comprehensive Treatment Options
SGB works best as part of a comprehensive approach to trauma recovery. We offer additional treatments that can complement your care:
IV Ketamine Therapy
Rapid relief for PTSD, depression, and anxiety
IM Ketamine Therapy
Intramuscular ketamine for those who prefer this method
Spravato Treatment
FDA-approved nasal esketamine for treatment-resistant depression
TMS Therapy
Non-invasive brain stimulation for depression and OCD
Many patients find that combining SGB with ketamine therapy produces the most comprehensive relief from trauma symptoms.
06
Safe, Comfortable Environment
We understand that people with trauma need to feel safe. Every detail of our treatment environment has been designed with your comfort in mind. Our staff is trained in trauma-informed care, and we move at your pace throughout the entire process. You’ll never be rushed or pressured.
Getting Started with Stellate Ganglion Block Near Southside Place
Southside Place has maintained its 0.2-square-mile identity for nearly a century precisely because its residents know what quality looks like and protect it. The same discernment applies to mental health care. Stellate ganglion block — validated across cardiac medicine, pain medicine, and psychiatry through the same anatomical mechanism — represents a convergence of specialty evidence around a procedure that is genuinely effective, genuinely safe, and genuinely close.
Call (713) 772-5315 for your free consultation. We’ll engage with your history at the depth you expect, answer every mechanism question specifically, and give you an honest clinical picture of whether SGB makes sense for your situation. No charge, no pressure, complete confidentiality.
Monday-Sunday, 5am-9pm
Free consultation
Rapid relief
Three Houston locations
Expert anesthesiology care
Commonly Asked Questions
Get Help NowHow quickly does stellate ganglion block work?
Many patients notice improvement within days of the procedure, and some experience relief within minutes. Research shows that effects can appear within 5 minutes and last a month or longer. This rapid onset is one of SGB’s most remarkable features, especially for people who’ve been suffering with trauma symptoms for years.
Is stellate ganglion block safe?
Yes, SGB has been performed safely since the 1920s for various conditions. The procedure has a well-established safety profile with decades of clinical use. Common temporary effects include drooping eyelid, hoarse voice, and warmth on the treated side—all of which resolve within hours. Dr. Ho’s expertise as an anesthesiologist and use of ultrasound guidance ensures the highest safety standards.
Does the procedure hurt?
Most patients experience minimal discomfort. You’ll feel a small pinch from the initial numbing injection, followed by pressure as the medication is administered. The procedure itself takes only minutes, and most patients tolerate it very well. Dr. Ho’s gentle technique and experience help ensure your comfort.
How many SGB treatments will I need?
Many patients experience significant improvement after one or two treatments. Research protocols typically involve two SGBs administered two weeks apart. Some patients benefit from additional treatments over time. We’ll assess your response and recommend a treatment schedule based on your individual results.
How long do the effects last?
Effects typically last one month or longer, with some patients experiencing sustained improvement for many months. A 2025 study found that 96% of patients maintained significant improvement at 6-month follow-up. If symptoms return, the procedure can be repeated.
Can I combine SGB with other treatments?
Yes, many patients find that SGB works best as part of a comprehensive treatment approach. Combining SGB with ketamine therapy, for example, can provide both rapid sympathetic nervous system reset and enhanced neuroplasticity for processing trauma. SGB may also make traditional trauma therapy more tolerable and effective.
Do I need to talk about my trauma during treatment?
No. Unlike trauma-focused therapies that require detailed discussion of traumatic events, SGB works on the biological mechanisms underlying PTSD symptoms. You can share as much or as little as you’re comfortable with. The procedure addresses the physical hyperarousal component of trauma without requiring you to revisit painful memories.
Will insurance cover stellate ganglion block for PTSD?
Coverage varies by insurance plan. SGB for PTSD may be covered by some insurers, particularly when documented as treatment for a recognized condition with failed conventional treatments. We can help verify your benefits and discuss payment options during your consultation.
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