The Gamma Knife and Trigeminal Neuralgia
Treatment for trigeminal neuralgia, a disorder that involves facial pain and is diagnosable by taking MRI scans, usually involves medication that was originally developed for treatment of epilepsy. The disorder known as TN or trigeminal neuralgia when treated with drug therapy has some predictable negative side effects like memory loss and vomiting. Another negative consideration to using drug therapy is that the tolerance level to those drugs increases with time and the increased doses also increases the very unpleasant side effects.
The other form of treatment for TN has been surgery which means going through the skull to relieve the pressure on the trigeminal neuralgia. A substitute to surgical treatment has been the use of gamma knife surgery for neuralgia which is a surgical treatment that is called a minimal invasive treatment although still subject to the effects of surgery which can be serious. The so called minimally invasive surgery called the gamma knife trigeminal neuralgia treatment uses radiosurgery much like that used by plastic surgeons. The treatment has been in use and research has been accumulated since 1996. Patients who were treated and had follow up examinations reported a statistical number of 44% successful relief of pain.
The procedure known as gamma knife trigeminal neuralgia uses radio surgery and is not as long lasting as the traditional surgical microvascular decompression; however, it does offer relief from pain for those patients who are not willing to go through invasive surgical treatments. The invasive procedure is done by drilling a hole in the skull and exposing the trigeminal nerve. The surgeon has to move a blood vessel either an artery or a vein that is pressing down on the trigeminal nerve. Using radio surgery lets the surgeon try to relieve the pain by using radio scans on the site and doing surgery through the sinus cavities. The procedure is not as complete in moving the blood vessel that is compressing the trigeminal nerve as is traditional surgery but the obvious problems associated with drilling a hole in the skull can be avoided.