Department of Neurology, University of Duisburg-Essen, Hufelandstr. 55, 45122 Essen, Germany.
Expert Rev Neurother. 2011 Nov;11(11):1619-29. doi: 10.1586/ern.11.156.
Trigeminal neuralgia (TN) and persistent idiopathic facial pain (PIFP) are two of the most puzzling orofacial pain conditions and affected patients are often very difficult to treat. TN is characterized by paroxysms of brief but severe pain followed by asymptomatic periods without pain. In some patients a constant dull background pain may persist. This constant dull pain sometimes makes the distinction from PIFP difficult. PIFP is defined as continuous facial pain, typically localized in a circumscribed area of the face, which is not accompanied by any neurological or other lesion identified by clinical examination or clinical investigations. The pain usually does not stay within the usual anatomic boundaries of the trigeminal nerve distribution and is a diagnosis of exclusion. Epidemiologic evidence on TN, and even more so on PIFP, is quite scarce, but generally both conditions are considered to be rare diseases. The etiology and underlying pathophysiology of TN, and more so PIFP, remain unknown. Treatment is based on only few randomized controlled clinical trials and insufficiently evaluated surgical procedures.
三叉神经痛（TN）和持续性特发性面部疼痛（PIFP）是两种最令人费解的口腔颌面部疼痛病症，受影响的患者通常很难治疗。TN 的特征是阵发性短暂但剧烈的疼痛，随后是无症状的无疼痛期。在一些患者中，可能会持续存在恒定的钝痛。这种恒定的钝痛有时使得与 PIFP 的鉴别变得困难。PIFP 定义为持续的面部疼痛，通常局限于面部的一个特定区域，不伴有任何通过临床检查或临床研究确定的神经或其他病变。疼痛通常不会局限于三叉神经分布的通常解剖边界内，这是一种排除性诊断。关于 TN 的流行病学证据，甚至更不用说 PIFP 了，相当稀缺，但一般来说，这两种情况都被认为是罕见疾病。TN 的病因和潜在病理生理学，更不用说 PIFP 了，仍然未知。治疗仅基于少数随机对照临床试验和评估不足的手术程序。
