Prevalence of trigeminal neuralgia patients in the community: A retrospective study

DOI: 10.4328/JCAM.5982 Received: 29.07.2018 Accepted: 03.09.2018 Published Online: 05.09.2018 Printed: 01.01.2019 J Clin Anal Med 2019;10(1): 31-4 Corresponding Author: Aydin Keskinruzgar, Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Faculty of Dentistry, Adıyaman University, 02000, Adiyaman, Turkey. GSM: +905416795521 E-Mail: akeskinruzgar@gmail.com ORCID ID: 0000-0001-5735-6890 Abstract Aim: The aim of this study is to evaluate the prevalence of trigeminal neuralgia (TN) in Adıyaman and its surrounding populations. Material and Method: The study population consisted of 154.969 patients admitted to the Adıyaman University, Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery between 2015 and 2018. Clinical records of 41 patients diagnosed with TN were retrospectively reviewed. Demographic data and clinical characteristics of the patients were recorded. Localization, age and sex distribution and the prevalence of TN were determined. Results: Among the 41 cases with TN, 27 were female and 14 were male. The mean age of the patients was 58.59 ± 16.38 years. Thirty-nine patients (95.1%) had unilateral and 2 patients (4.9%) had bilateral TN. While the mandibular branch (V3) involvement of the trigeminal nerve was observed in 16 patients, 5 patients showed maxillary branch (V2) involvement, and 3 patients exhibited ophthalmic branch (V1) involvement. In addition, V1+V2 involvement was observed in 1 patient, V2+V3 involvement was observed in 5 patients and V1+V2+V3 involvement was described in 11 patients. Overall, the prevalence of TN was found to be approximately 0.03% (26/100.000). Discussion: TN is a rare disease, estimation of its prevalence is difficult, hence, the literature on the prevalence and of TN is limited. The prevalence rate is about 4.5-29.5 per 100.000 individuals in other studies. The present study revealed that the prevalence of TN in Adıyaman and its surroundings was 26/100.000. This study may be the first one in Turkey to investigate the prevalence of TN.