Familial trigeminal neuralgia: a case series

Abstract

Introduction. Trigeminal neuralgia is a fairly rare disease manifested by acute paroxysmal pain of the type of electric shock in the innervation zone of one or more branches of the trigeminal nerve. Trigeminal neuralgia is usually sporadic, but familial cases have also been described. The study of familial cases of the disease can help in understanding the causes and mechanisms of the development of trigeminal neuralgia. We present a series of 4 families in which 2 family members in one generation suffered from trigeminal neuralgia, all patients underwent surgical treatment in our center.The study objective. The study of familial cases of the disease can help in understanding the causes and mechanisms of the development of trigeminal neuralgia.Materials and methods. For the analysis, data were collected on patients with familial trigeminal neuralgia who were operated on in our center from August 2015 to October 2020.Results. In our series, the majority of patients were women, the average age was 36.5 years, in all cases right side was involved, and, in most cases the second trigeminal division was affected. Most of the patients had neurovascular conflict. All patients underwent microvascular decompression as a primary operation in our center. Intraoperative neurovascular conflict was identified in all cases; in half of the cases, complete regression of pain syndrome was noted after first surgical procedure. Conclusion. In our study, no clinical or anatomical factors were found in comparison to sporadic cases of trigeminal neuralgia.