John Murray Carnochan (1817-1887): the first description of successful surgery for trigeminal neuralgia

Description of and treatment for trigeminal neuralgia has a long history. One pivotal pioneer in this disease, however, has been more or less lost to history, along with his first description of a series of patients treated successfully for trigeminal neuralgia with surgery. John Murray Carnochan, a surgeon practicing in New York City, performed successful neurosurgery on 3 patients some 3 decades earlier than the first commonly accepted successful procedure by William Rose of London in 1890. In the present paper, the authors discuss the life of Dr. Carnochan and his descriptions of patients with trigeminal neuralgia. Based on this review, John Murray Carnochan should properly be remembered as the first surgeon to perform successful neurosurgery for trigeminal neuralgia.