Long-term Follow-up of Trigeminal Neuralgia Patients treated with Percutaneous Balloon Compression Technique: A Retrospective Analysis.

Abstract

Trigeminal neuralgia (TN) refers to sharp, lancinating pain in the areas supplied by trigeminal nerve. Both pharmacological and surgical lines of treatments are available for the treatment of TN. Percutaneous balloon compression (PBC) is one such surgical technique that is usually advocated for the treatment of TN occurring in elderly patients. Hence, we aim to evaluate the follow-up results of the TN patients treated by the PBC technique. A total of 400 patients were selected for the study who had undergone surgical treatment of TN by percutaneous balloon decompression technique. All the postoperative follow-up records of the patients, clinical history, and complication records of the patients were studied and evaluated. Of all the patients included in the study, 353 patients showed improvement clinically after PBC therapy. Out 400, 180 were males and 220 were females. Postoperative complications of the patients during their follow-up were also recorded and it was observed that the most common complication arising after treatment with this technique included facial numbness, masseter muscle weakness, paresthesia, diplopia, and corneal anesthesia. One of the most common neuralgic pains affecting the face is the pain of TN. Although numerous lines of treatment options are available for its treatment, all these have one or the other drawbacks. From our results, we can conclude that PBC technique offers more advantages than other surgical modalities and, therefore, should be preferred over other techniques of treatment.