Treatment of post-craniotomy acute severe supraorbital neuralgia using ultrasound-guided pulsed radiofrequency: a case report

Abstract

Xiong Xiao,1,* Hao Ren,2,* Nan Ji,1 Fang Luo2 1Department of Neurosurgery, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100050, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Management, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100050, People’s Republic of China *These authors contributed equally to this work Abstract: Pulsed radiofrequency is an effective, safe, and nondestructive pain treatment technique that has been insufficiently reported in the treatment of supraorbital neuralgia. We report the successful use of pulsed radiofrequency to alleviate acute severe supraorbital neuralgia in a post-craniotomy patient. A 52-year-old female, who had acute severe supraorbital neuralgia after having received a right frontal craniotomy and with poor efficacy in response to medication and a nerve block, was subjected to ultrasound-guided pulsed radiofrequency treatment and experienced complete pain relief, as a result of which the patient stopped taking all analgesic drugs. The patient had follow-up visits for 1 year, during which she reported no pain. Furthermore, no side effects of nerve damage after pulsed radiofrequency were observed. Our results suggest that pulsed radiofrequency is a promising technique for the treatment of supraorbital neuralgia and that further studies of this technique should be conducted. Keywords: supraorbital neuralgia, pulsed radiofrequency, post-craniotomy

Keywords

• supraorbital neuralgia
• pulsed radiofrequency
• post-craniotomy