Radiosurgery for Trigeminal Neuralgia: Past, Present, and Future

摘要

The authors renew the indications for, techniques, and results of stereotactic radiosurgery for the management of patients with disabling trigeminal neuralgia.Medical therapy is the initial approach for most patients with trigeminal neuralgia. However, many patients fail or cannot tolerate medical therapy, and eventually require surgical intervention. Although often associated with initial pain relief, all surgical procedures have variable but definite rates of recurrence and morbidity. Gamma Knife radiosurgery has been advocated as a minimally invasive alternative surgical approach to mi-crovascular decompression (MVD) or percutaneous surgeries.