Trigeminal Neuralgia is a disorder of the trigeminal nerve which causes episodes of intense pain in the face. This is often caused by compression of the Nerve by a blood vessel as it emerges from the brainstem.
Treatment includes –
Medication – usually managed by the Neurologists or pain physicians
Ablative surgery –
- Radiosurgery (SRS)
- Percutaneous Stereotactic rhizotomy with RF or glycerol injection
- Surgical Rhizotomy
- Peripheral Neurectomy
Physiological (Surgery)
- Microvascular decompression
The two procedure that I use to treat this clinical condition are the Glycerol injection and the microvascular decompression. When the patient is an elderly patient or one that is medically unfit for general anaesthesia, a trigeminal injection is undertaken. The microvascular decompression is the preferred option as it is not an ablative procedure which has the highest success rates and a more definitive procedure with good long-term results.
