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A NEW APPROACH TO THE TREATMENT OF GLOSSO‐PHARYNGEAL NEURALGIA, USING THE GREAT AURICULAR NERVE BLOCK
Author(s) -
Aoki Hideo,
Tokunaoa Yuko
Publication year - 1965
Publication title -
psychiatry and clinical neurosciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.609
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1440-1819
pISSN - 1323-1316
DOI - 10.1111/j.1440-1819.1965.tb01219.x
Subject(s) - medicine , cervical nerve , glossopharyngeal nerve , cervical plexus , neuralgia , cranial nerves , nerve block , surgery , anesthesia , anatomy , nerve root , vagus nerve , neuropathic pain , stimulation
S ummary Two cases of glossopharyngeal neuralgia (oropharyngeal type) were treated successfully by means of either anesthetic block or section of the great auricular nerve respectively. Pain was relieved completely and no recurrence has been observed for the 5 and 3 years following the treatment. The intracranial section of the ninth cranial nerve has been thought to be the preferred method of treating this disease. The great auricular nerve block was introduced by us in this field and two sites of the effect of this treatment were clarified by the clinical and experimental studies: (1) the peripheral sensory overlap over the upper cervical nerves and the ninth cranial nerve was demonstrated in the pharyngeal region, and (2) intraspinal connection of these nerves might exist in the upper cervical segment. Therefore, it was revealed that the nerves relating to the mechanism of the pain in this disease were not only the ninth cranial nerve but also the upper cervical nerves. In our opinion all cases of glossopharyngeal neuralgia should be treated by this procedure at first, because of the following reasons: (1) simplicity of the method, (2) no side effect is observed and (3) the effect of this treatment can be estimated confidently to occur several minutes after the nerve block. Therefore, more complicated treatment should be applied to the case without any favorable effect following this procedure.