Trigeminal neuralgia is a neuropathic disorder characterised by episodes of intense pain in the face. There are various treatment modalities, but none of them provides permanent pain relief. The study aims to investigate the efficacy of alcohol nerve block and cryosurgery in the treatment of trigeminal neuralgia and evaluate the outcomes in the period of 5 years follow-up.
A total of 108 patients presented with the features of trigeminal neuralgia were included. These individuals were treated with neurolysis therapy using peripheral ethyl alcohol injections and cryosurgery. However, only inferior alveolar nerve and the infraorbital nerve were considered for a better understanding of the outcomes. Every patient was given the treatment, alternatively.
The results have shown that 56.5% of the patients had pain on the right side, 38% had pain on the left side and 5.6% had pain on both sides. Whereas none of the patients had pain in the ophthalmic division. The higher percentage of pain relief was in the groups using alcohol nerve block, while the higher percentage of pain relief was in the groups using cryosurgery. There were significant differences in the duration of pain relief degrees between the alcohol nerve block group and the cryosurgery group. Moreover, the duration of pain relief in the alcohol nerve block was higher than those of the cryosurgery.
The results indicated that alcohol nerve block was a better choice for trigeminal neuralgia as it gave long-lasting results and maximum patient satisfaction.
Wiley nline library - Oral Surgery - Volume 13, Issue 2
2020.
Management of trigeminal neuralgia. A comparison of two techniques