Glossopharyngeal neuralgia: a study of 6 cases

Glossopharyngeal neuralgia is a rare disease. In this report; six cases of glossopharyngeal neuralgia have been studied. At first, drug therapy was used in all of the 6 cases. In 2 of the 6 cases which were resistant to medical therapy intracranial section of the 9th nerve as well as the upper two rootlets of the 10th nerve were performed. This resolved the symptoms completely. One of these two cases, had, in addition to pain paroxyms, hypotension, bradycardia and syncope, which were controlled by temporary cardiac pacemaker. In the other 4 cases, drug therapy was able to control the paroxysms of pain. In addition, two patients with weight loss and one patient with bradycardia rapidly responded to drug therapy as well. Reviewing the literature, we discuss the medical and surgical treatment of glossopharyngeal neuralgia and possible mechanisms of associated cardiovascular disturbances.