Mario Francesco Fraioli, Mario Lecce, Damiano Lisciani and Bernardo Fraioli
Introduction: Trigeminal neuralgia is a common cause of facial pain. Many therapies are accomplishable; purpose of the study is to evaluate the role and the indications, in our experience, of peripheral alcohol injections, controlled radiofrequency thermocoagulation, gasserian ganglion compression with balloon and microvascular decompression in posterior cranial fossa.
Methods: A series of 437 patients treated with various surgical methods for idiopathic trigeminal neuralgia refractory to medical therapy is presented. The treatments were performed according to the interested trigeminal division, the gravity of the neuralgia, the age and the general conditions of the patients. Moreover, the role of radiosurgery is underlined.
Results: Peripheral alcohol injections resulted very effective for temporary control of dolorific attacks. Thermocoagulation resulted a very effective and stable method for isolated III division trigeminal neuralgia; balloon compression was very effective for pain control but entire hemifacial anesthesia was necessary to obtain a good outcome; microvascular decompression resulted affective but was reserved for young healthy patients (trigeminal neuralgia is predominant in advanced age).
Conclusions: In our opinion, each treatment should be indicated according to neuralgia (interested trigeminal division, gravity) and patient (age, general conditions) characteristics, to perform the best treatment for each patient.