Trigeminal Neuralgia: The New Surgical Treatment Modalities

Abstract

ABSTRACT Trigeminal Neuralgia is a painful condition of the oro-facial structures. The diagnostic criteria are based upon the patient's history, examination and clinical evaluation. In the course of the disease patients experience dull, aching, throbbing or burning, constant pain in the same distribution as the paroxysms. A long interval between the attacks is often described as a period of increasing paresthesias in the nerve distribution. The trigger stimulus, applied to the “trigger zone”, often arouses intense pain in divisions beyond the one stimulated. Treatment involves the medicinal as well as surgical procedures. Medicinal therapy is usually first to start. With time patient became refractive to medicinal therapy. Under this condition, surgical treatment is recommended. This paper focus particularly on the surgical aspect of this painful condition.