Percutaneous balloon compression of trigeminal ganglion for the treatment of idiopathic trigeminal neuralgia : experience in 50 patients.

OBJECTIVE

We assessed the surgical results of percutaneous balloon compression in 50 patients with idiopathic trigeminal neuralgia.

METHODS

Fifty patients with follow-up period of more than 12 months were retrospectively analyzed. The mean follow-up period was 42 months (range, 12-82). The mean age was 65.8 years (range, 27-83). Seventeen patients (34%) had other previous surgical procedures. The balloon was inflated by injecting radio-contrast media under brief general anesthesia according to Mullan's technique. The mean inflating time was 88 seconds (range, 60-120). The whole procedure took about 20 minutes.

RESULTS

We reported excellent and good results in 70% of the cases, poor in 6% as annoying dysesthesia, recurrence in 16%, and 8% failure due to technical deficiencies. Forty-six patients (92%) were initially relieved of their pain. There were permanent motor weakness of the masseter muscle in 4% of patients and transitory diplopia in 8%. Neither anesthesia dolorosa nor keratitis occurred. Almost all patients (92%) were discharged postoperatively within two days.

CONCLUSION

These results indicate that balloon compression would be an effective method with acceptable morbidity, technically, it can be performed rapidly and simply in the treatment of idiopathic trigeminal neuralgia.