Medically refractory trigeminal neuralgia treatment
see Trends in surgical treatment for trigeminal neuralgia
see Cost effectiveness in surgical treatment for trigeminal neuralgia.
Microvascular decompression
Percutaneous procedures
Gamma Knife radiosurgery
see Gamma Knife radiosurgery for trigeminal neuralgia.
Microvascular decompression should be performed more prudently in elderly patients (>80 years old), and the indications for PR should be relatively relaxed. MVD + PR could improve the curative effect in patients with trigeminal neuralgia >80 years. Gamma knife treatment of trigeminal neuralgia had high safety, less complications, and positive curative effect, especially suitable for patients >80 years 1).
MVD results in superior rates of short- and long-term pain relief, facial numbness and dysesthesia control, and less recurrence amongst those in whom pain freedom was achieved, at the cost of greater postoperative complications when compared to SRS. Although no significant difference was found in terms of the need for retreatment surgery, there was a trend towards less procedures favoring MVD. First treatment by either technique represents the overall trends reported 2).