Over the past several decades, stereotactic radiosurgery has become a viable noninvasive treatment option for patients with trigeminal neuralgia. The scientific literature regarding the radiosurgical treatment of trigeminal neuralgia has evolved to identify factors that predict both efficacy and toxicity. Radiosurgical management has, thus, become complementary to medical management, microvascu...

Although patients with Bell palsy and trigeminal neuralgia occasionally present to primary care physicians, most of the syndromes in this article are somewhat rare in primary care practice. It is important to recognize signs and symptoms of these syndromes so that appropriate management is carried out. Patients may experience sensory and/or motor symptoms of the head and neck due to disorders o...

Radiographic findings in 68 patients with trigeminal neuralgia and 24 patients with hemifacial spasm are reviewed. The relative value of various radiographic diagnostic procedures is discussed. Trigeminal neuralgia and hemifacial spasm are usually caused by vascular compression of the trigeminal root entry zone and facial nerve exit zone respectively. Computed tomography (CT) of the posterior f...

A 21 year old man with severe osteogenesis imperfecta developed classic right maxillary trigeminal neuralgia. Brain imaging showed pronounced basilar invagination, which was probably responsible for the pain through distortion of the trigeminal sensory root secondary to displacement of the brainstem. Osteogenesis imperfecta may be added to Paget's disease as a potential cause of symptomatic tri...

Applanation tonometry is a non-invasive method of assessing the arterial blood pressure profiles in both the peripheral and systemic circulation. In this study the authors examined whether there were differences in these profiles in patients with trigeminal neuralgia. The carotid artery and derived aortic blood pressure waveforms were obtained using a pulse wave analysis system. The ratio of th...

Trigeminal neuralgia (TN), also known as tic douloureux is a chronic neuropathic pain disorder characterized by sporadic episodes of extreme, sudden burning or shock-like face pain that last from a few seconds to 2 minutes. Trigeminal neuralgia has a reported incidence of 5.9/100,000 women and 3.4/100,000 men in USA. The exact pathophysiology is still unclear, but demyelization leading to abnor...

A 72-year-old female patient is presented, who was diagnosed with herpes zoster along the left ophthalmic branch of the trigeminal nerve with associated cutaneous vesicles. The patient subsequently developed postherpetic neuralgia in the same dermatome, which, after remission, transformed into paroxysmal trigeminal pain. The two different symptom sets, with the former consistent with PHN and th...

OBJECTIVE To describe a case of a patient diagnosed with major depressive disorder whose trigeminal neuralgia was unexpectedly but rapidly and efficiently responsive to duloxetine. CASE SUMMARY A 37-year-old woman was diagnosed with trigeminal neuralgia, and the initial treatment with carbamazepine 800 mg/d did not improve her pain. In the following 3 years, she was poorly responsive to the c...