How is trigeminal neuralgia treated?

  There are more treatments for trigeminal neuralgia, which can generally be divided into the following: 1) Conservative drug treatment: the more commonly used ones include carbamazepine and oxcarbazepine. Older people can take gabapentin or pregabalin, etc. Drug conservative treatment is mainly suitable for: patients with relatively short onset time, fear of surgical risks and surgery-related complications; in addition, there are patients with unstable underlying diseases and those who have difficulty tolerating surgery at an advanced age.  (2) Percutaneous percutaneous radiofrequency disruption radiofrequency thermocoagulation disruption, mainly blocking and damaging the sensory roots of the trigeminal nerve and blocking the nociceptive conduction of the nerve. This treatment method originally had the problem of easy recurrence due to imprecise localization, but now it can be precisely located to the specific branches of the trigeminal nerve and selectively destroyed under the dual localization of imaging (CT, etc.) guidance and neurophysiological monitoring, and different temperatures and times are selected according to the patient’s requirements, which not only improves the cure rate but also largely reduces the occurrence of side effects. Due to the very low trauma, the risk of the procedure is reduced and the safety is increased, so many patients who cannot undergo microvascular decompression surgery can undergo the operation. This treatment method is widely applicable to patients of all ages, and is especially suitable for elderly patients who cannot undergo craniotomy.  (3) Microvascular decompression surgery: It is performed under the operating microscope to separate the blood vessels located in the abnormal course, irritation or compression of the trigeminal nerve from the nerve, so that the pain symptoms can be relieved. Some people will combine decompression with trigeminal nerve sensory root severance, and the side effects such as numbness in the patient’s disfigured area are very stubborn and cannot heal. The procedure is mainly suitable for young and middle-aged people.  (4) Gamma knife treatment: Gamma knife is mainly through stereotactic positioning, the trigeminal ganglion for radiation directed focused treatment to relieve pain. The current indications for gamma knife treatment are mostly methods when other methods of treatment are not satisfactory.  5) Nerve block type surgery: injection of nerve-destroying drugs into the peripheral branches of the trigeminal nerve. The main problem with this treatment method is the high recurrence rate, and the uncontrollable nature of the liquid drug can lead to trigeminal facial numbness, corneal ulceration and chewing difficulties and other trigeminal nerve deficits. This type of surgery is relatively less risky and is mainly applicable to radiofrequency thermocoagulation or other post-surgical complementary treatments.  6) Chinese medicine is mainly acupuncture and physiotherapy, but it is mainly suitable for patients with milder symptoms and shorter duration of the disease.