[Microsurgical treatment of trigeminal neuralgia]

129 cases of trigeminal neuralgia were treated microsurgically. The roots of trigeminal nerves were found to be affected by arteries in 96 cases, by veins in 23, and by both arteries and veins in 10. According to these relations, the disease was divided into 3 types: (1) contiguous type (49 cases, 37.9%), vessels 1 mm close to the nerves without any compression; (2) compressive type (42, 32.5%), vessels close to the nerves with compression; (3) adhesive type (38, 29.5%), vessels and nerves adhered to each other. A piece of dacron was used to wrap the nerve root and fixed by gelfoam and silver clip. Pain relieved immediately after operation in 123 cases with an effective rate of 98.4%.