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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Asian J Neurosurg 2021; 16(02): 281-287
DOI: 10.4103/ajns.AJNS_361_20
Original Article

Peripheral neurectomy for trigeminal neuralgia: A report of seventeen cases and review of the literature

Mohamed Nagy
Department of Neurosurgery, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo
,
Bokhary Mahmoud
1   Department of Neurosurgery, Armed Forces Hospital Southern Region, Khamis Mushait
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Background: Surgical intervention for trigeminal neuralgia (TN) is indicated if there is a failure of the medical treatment. Peripheral neurectomy is one of the oldest surgical procedures for TN. Objective: The aim is to evaluate the clinical outcome and the recurrence rate following peripheral neurectomy for the management of TN. Patients and Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study of 17 patients with classical TN treated by peripheral neurectomy. The visual analogue scale (VAS) was used for pain assessment preoperatively and during the follow-up period. The outcome of surgery was graded as a marked, moderate, or mild improvement. Kaplan–Meier analysis was used for the time to recurrence to predict the probability of recurrence at any given time following the procedure. Results: The mean pain-free interval was 29.3 ± 16.3 months. At 2 and 5 years of the follow-up period, the mean VAS improved significantly (P < 0.001 and P = 0.042 respectively). Thirteen patients had marked improvement of pain. There was recurrence of pain in 4 patients (23.5%). By Kaplan–Meier analysis, the survival rate without recurrence at 2, 3, 4, and 5 years following the procedure were 92.9%, 79.6%, 59.7%, and 29.8%, respectively. The mean preoperative Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale-Anxiety and Depression scores significantly improved on the last follow-up visit following the procedure (P < 0.001 for both). Conclusion: Peripheral neurectomy provides short to medium-term good pain control for patients with TN. The preoperative severity of pain, anxiety, and depression levels improved markedly after the procedure.

Key-words:

Inferior alveolar - infraorbital nerve - peripheral neurectomy - trigeminal neuralgia

Financial support and sponsorship

Nil.




Publication History

Received: 24 July 2020

Accepted: 16 March 2021

Article published online:
16 August 2022

© 2021. Asian Congress of Neurological Surgeons. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

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