Side-to-side Asymmetry in Trigeminal Neuralgia -Multiple Factors Theory-

The right side was affected in 61% of reported cases and the left side was affected in 39% of approximately 30,000 patients with trigeminal neuralgia (TN) affected on only one side. Side-to-side asymmetry of neurovascular compression in healthy persons cannot account for side-to-side asymmetry in TN. Size asymmetry and shape asymmetry of the rotundum and ovale foramens may account for the higher incidence of TN on the right side. This paper proposes a multiple factors theory : the summation of multiple factors reaches a critical level at which TN occurs. It is rational that entrapment of the maxillary and mandibular nerves when they cross the ovale and rotundum foramens is one of the factors which cause TN. The multiple factors theory can account for a TN patient without neurovascular compression and a healthy person with neurovascular compression.