Two days ago, 60-year-old Auntie Huang was happily discharged from the hospital, tormented her for five years “strange disease” finally cured. Many people know what it’s like to be stuck with a fish spike. But I’m afraid that very few people have experienced this feeling for five years, and no one wants to experience it. For Auntie Huang, this feeling is simply terrible. One day five years ago, the left side of Auntie Huang’s throat suddenly tingled a little, like a fish spike stuck in the throat stabbed to the same, whether it is swallowing saliva or eating, there will be a burst of tingling in the throat. I thought it was a minor problem, nothing serious, simmering for a while will be good, I did not expect, this is just the beginning of her pain. With the passage of time, the “fish spine” in Auntie Huang’s throat has not disappeared. Not only swallowing saliva, swallowing food, she has to be careful, even talking will cause severe stabbing pain in the left side of the throat. After that, Auntie Huang did not dare to swallow saliva, eat as little as possible, not to talk …… days overshadowed. During this period, her family took her everywhere to seek medical help, tried various methods such as acupuncture and acupuncture, also ate a lot of drugs, but they did not play any effect. Auntie Huang still had to be careful, the pain in her body plus the psychological torture, so her life gradually lost its joy. Later, her mood was getting worse and worse, and even a smile was rare. It was not until a short time ago that she found the cause of her illness during a hospital visit: glossopharyngeal neuralgia. This is a disease with an incidence of only one in ten million to several million and is very rare in the population. Chen Yili, deputy chief of neurosurgery at Run Run Shaw Hospital, worked with another neurologist to clarify the cause for Auntie Huang and then scheduled surgery. After nearly five hours of delicate surgery, Auntie Huang’s pain disappeared and she was discharged home after a week of hospitalization. Chen Yili introduced that the pathogenesis of linguopharyngeal neuralgia is similar to trigeminal neuralgia and facial muscle spasm. The linguopharyngeal nerve near the human brainstem is compressed by the nearby microvessels, resulting in severe pain such as cutting, needling, tearing, burning and electric shock-like pain in the distribution area of the linguopharyngeal nerve in the eustachian tube. “The nerves near the brainstem and the microvessels themselves are relatively close together, and when the microvessels compress the nerves, causing a ‘short circuit’ of the nerves, there is a corresponding painful response.” The disease usually occurs in people after the age of 40 and is associated with vascular sclerosis and congenital mutations. “People with cardiovascular disease may have a higher likelihood of developing the disease than normal people.” Chen Yili said the disease is similar to trigeminal neuralgia, with intermittent episodes of brief, intense, unbearable pain that can be spontaneous or triggered by actions such as chewing, swallowing, speaking or sneezing. The pain rises and often lasts from a few seconds to a few minutes. However, unlike trigeminal nerve, the episodic pain of glossopharyngeal neuralgia is usually located in the tonsillar region, pharynx or the base of the tongue on one side and may radiate to the ipsilateral ear, with pain strictly confined to one side. The principle of surgical treatment for this condition is actually quite simple, requiring only that the nerve causing the painful compression be separated from the blood vessels, a process akin to separating a confusing pile of wires so that they no longer overlap. “But because the location of the surgery is near the brainstem, the operation needs to be very delicate, and the surgery can often take a long time.” Chen said this is the first case of glossopharyngeal neuralgia he has encountered since he started practicing medicine in 1994, and it is expected to be rarely encountered elsewhere.