Trigeminal neuralgia is the most common neurological disease of the brain, mainly manifested by recurrent paroxysmal severe pain in the distribution area of the trigeminal nerve on one side of the face, with an incidence rate of 52.2/100,000 in China, slightly more in women than in men, and the incidence rate can increase with age. Trigeminal neuralgia mostly occurs in middle-aged and elderly people, with more right-sided than left-sided. The disease is characterized by sudden onset, sudden stop, lightning-like, knife-like, burning-like, intractable and severe pain in the trigeminal nerve distribution area of the head and face. The pain can be severe when speaking, washing the face, brushing the teeth or breezing, or even when walking. The pain lasts for a few seconds or minutes, and it comes in periodic episodes with intervals as normal. Etiology At present, domestic and foreign research has confirmed that most of the trigeminal neuralgia is caused by vascular compression of the trigeminal nerve into the brainstem segment. The long-term compression of the trigeminal nerve by the adjacent blood vessels causes the nerve to produce demyelination, resulting in paroxysmal facial pain attacks. Clinical manifestations Trigeminal neuralgia mostly occurs in middle-aged and elderly people over 40 years old. The typical symptoms of trigeminal neuralgia are paroxysmal, knife-like, lightning-like severe pain in the face immediately after eating, washing, brushing, talking, or even walking or wind-blowing to stimulate the face or a point in the mouth, with each attack lasting from a few seconds to several minutes. The disease seriously affects the work and life of patients, and is often called “the first pain in the world”, which makes people feel uncomfortable. Treatment For any disease, treatment should be directed to the cause of the disease in order to achieve the root cause of the disease. Neurosurgeons use microvascular decompression to treat trigeminal neuralgia. The trigeminal nerve is located under a microscope and the blood vessels attached to it are separated to achieve a cure. The advantages of microvascular decompression are: it is a radical method that targets the cause of the disease, with an efficiency rate of 95% or more.
The pain disappears immediately when the blood vessels are separated from the patient; the postoperative reaction is mild and the patient can move as usual after one day; no facial numbness and corneal ulcers are caused.