Treatment of primary trigeminal neuralgia with gamma knife

Abstract

Objective To evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of gamma knife in treatment of primary trigeminal neuralgia Methods Retrospectively analysis of 120 cases with primary trigeminal neuralgia treated by gamma knife in our department From Jan. 2003 to Mar. 2008 were performed. All cases were treated with the 4 mm collimator and targeted at the proximal nerve at the root entry zone located by MRI. The target dose varied from 80 -90 Gy. Results After a follow-up of 20. 0 ±4. 5 months, complete relief of pain occurred in 69 patients (57. 5%), 50% -90% relief in 34 (28. 3%), relief less than 50% in 12(10.0%) but no relief in 5(4.2 %).The efficient rate was 95. 8% . The common complications include numbness, absence of corneal reflex. 83 patients (69. 2%) experienced temporal facial numbness and 14 patients (11. 7%) reported continuous numbness after treatment of the gamma knife. Conclusions Gamma knife radiosurgery is a minimally invasive technique for the treatment of primary trigeminal neuralgia with few complications. Key words: Primary trigeminal neuralgia; Gamma knife