[Invasive management of trigeminal neuralgia. 8 years experience]

Trigeminal neuralgia (TN) is characterized by stereotyped repetitive, unilateral pain, referred as an electric shock, triggered by the stimulation of the rami of the trigeminy nerve. It presents more frequently in women. The aim is to know the efficacy of surgical treatment of TN against pain by means of microvascular decompressive technics (MDT) and balloon percutaneous microcompression (BPM).

A retrospective study was performed from January 2005 to January 2013, including 73 patients treated for TN. Sixty patients from group 1 (82 %) were treated with MDT, and 13 from group 2 with BPM. We evaluated the presence of pain in patients during the immediate postoperative period, and at 1, 3 and 5 years.

55 female patients and 18 male patients were included. The mean age of presentation for TN was 55 years. In group 1 there was pain remission in the immediate postoperative period in 95% of the cases, in 92% at one year, 91% at 3 years and 88% at 5 years; in group 2 in 85%, 84%, 84% and 70%, respectively. There were no lethal complications in 6.5% in group 1 and in 28% in group 2.

The two therapeutic procedures reduced pain of TN in a long term in most patients. Our results show high and perdurable resolution of the pain with negligible morbimortality.