Termocoagulación mediante radiofrecuencia en el tratamiento de la neuralgia del trigémino. Descripción de la técnica y experiencia en el Hospital Universitario de Cruces a lo largo de 10 años

Objectives

The incidence of trigeminal neuralgia is 4-5 cases/100,000 inhabitants per year. This disorder causes substantial morbidity in affected individuals. Identifying the factors associated with optimal detection and treatment of this disorder is essential. In this article, we describe our experience with trigeminal neuralgia in a 10-year period.

Methods

Our hospital database was searched and patients who were treated with radiofrequency thermo-coagulation from 1-1-2000 to 12-31-2009 were included in the analysis. Sixty-nine patients were identified, who underwent a total of 85 procedures.

Results

The mean age of patients was 66.83 years. We found that 7.25% of the patients had detectable alterations on magnetic resonance imaging. After treatment, 96.47% of patients reported immediate relief. In the long-term follow-up, 62.3% of patients were discharged and were symptom free.

Conclusions

In our study, gender, age and pain location were similar to those reported in the literature. In our series, there was no post-operative mortality. Postoperative complications were slightly lower than reported in the literature but this finding may be due to the retrospective nature of our study. Careful clinical investigation and imaging remain essential to trigeminal neuralgia diagnosis. Radiofrequency thermo-coagulation is a safe and effective treatment for patients with this disorder.