Surgical Management of Medically Refractory Trigeminal Neuralgia

The role of surgery for patients with medically refractory trigeminal neuralgia (TN) is well established. High-quality magnetic resonance imaging, including gadolinium-enhanced and volume acquisition sequences, should be performed to exclude intracranial tumors or demyelinating disease as the cause of the pain, as well as to clearly demonstrate the trigeminal nerve and adjacent blood vessels. For physiologically healthy patients with Type 1 TN, a microvascular decompression (MVD) is the preferred surgical approach because of its high rate of complete pain relief, the durability of the pain relief, and the fact that trigeminal injury is not required for pain relief. Patients with recurrent TN after a failed MVD, patients with significant medical comorbidities, and patients with multiple sclerosis–related TN are generally recommended to undergo less invasive, destructive surgical techniques aimed at providing pain relief by damaging the trigeminal nerve.