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TREATMENT OF TRIGEMINAL NEURALGIA BY POSTERIOR FOSSA MICROVASCULAR DECOMPRESSION
Author(s) -
Cutbush K.,
Atkinson R. L.
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
australian and new zealand journal of surgery
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.111
H-Index - 51
eISSN - 1445-2197
pISSN - 0004-8682
DOI - 10.1111/j.1445-2197.1994.tb02171.x
Subject(s) - medicine , trigeminal neuralgia , microvascular decompression , surgery , superior cerebellar artery , decompression , posterior cranial fossa , neuralgia , trigeminal nerve , anterior inferior cerebellar artery , posterior fossa , anesthesia , basilar artery , neuropathic pain , aneurysm
A series of 109 cases of microvascular decompression for intractable trigeminal neuralgia was reviewed. Operations were performed by a single surgeon and cases were reviewed independently by the one author. The failure rate in this study was 17.6%. A further 6.5% of cases endured brief recurrences not requiring treatment. Two‐thirds of significant recurrences occurred within the initial 12 months. Long‐term complications were experienced in 7.4% of cases. There was one postoperative mortality occumng in a patient with a large fibroblastic meningioma invading the brain stem. The classic Jannetta approach was modified following the first 32 cases allowing the cerebellum to be depressed inferiorly with a subsequent decline in the rate of loss of hearing from 12.5 to 3.7%. In over 70% of cases an aberrant superior cerebellar artery was found compressing the fifth cranial nerve. Patients had dental work performed in an attempt to control the pain prior to operation in 44% of cases.