Photobiomodulation on trigeminal neuralgia: systematic review

Trigeminal neuralgia is a recurrent episode of facial pain, that may be associated with other conditions such as multiple sclerosis, neoplasms, and nerve compromises or may occur due to an unknown cause. The available treatments are pharmacotherapy or surgery; however, both are susceptible to develop side effects. Photobiomodulation could be a promising alternative therapy for trigeminal neuralgia. A systematic review of literature was carried out using the PRISMA protocol, in the PubMed/MEDLINE, Embase, and Web of Science databases. Risk of bias by ROB 2.0 protocol was performed in included studies. Initially, 20 identified articles were collected varying between the years of 1983-2018, from which 6 were included. A total of 193 patients were evaluated; photobiomodulation was compared to conventional therapies, TENS, and therapy combinations with pharmacotherapy. The overall risk of bias was low, with some concerns in the randomization and double-blinding process; moreover, there are few reports in the literature. Photobiomodulation appears to be as effective as conventional therapies, being a coadjutant therapeutic opportunity for the treatment of trigeminal neuralgia.