The caudalis DREZ for facial pain

During a 3-year period, 25 caudalis dorsal root entry zone (DREZ) operations were done for severe, facial pain. Intraoperative brainstem recordings were done before and after DREZ in all patients. Primary diagnosis included refractory trigeminal neuralgia, atypical headaches or facial pain, posttraumatic closed head injuries, postsurgical anesthesia dolorosa, multiple sclerosis, brainstem infarction, postherpetic neuralgia and cancer-related pain. At the time of discharge, good to excellent pain relief was present in 24/25 patients and fair relief in 1. At 1 month, 19/25 (76%) patients had good to excellent results and at 3 months following surgery, 17/25 (68%) continued to have good to excellent pain relief. One year following surgery, 18 patients could be evaluated, 12/18 (67%) still considered their relief as good to excellent, 2 fair and 4 poor. Transient postoperative ataxia was present in 15/25 patients (60%), but was largely resolved at 1 months. In 3/18 (17%) patients, a degree of ataxia was still present at 1 year although in none was it disabling. Two patients had transient diplopia, and 3 had increased corneal anesthesia with 1 later developing a keratitis. No surgical or postsurgical mortality was noted. This procedure has proven to be a satisfactory treatment for many patients with debilitating facial pain syndromes with acceptable morbidity.