Trigeminal neuralgia in patients with vertebrobasilar dolichoectasia: review of three cases

Abstract

Trigeminal neuralgia is a clinical syndrome whose cause often involves nerve compressionby adjacent vascular structures of normal anatomic conformation, especially thesuperior cerebellar artery. Vertebro-basilar dolichoectasia is another potential cause oftrigeminal neuralgia, however, less than 2% of the cases are related to this condition.There were three cases of trigeminal neuralgia as an initial manifestation of vertebralbasilardolichoectasia attended by members of the Department of Neurosurgery at theUniversity of Cartagena.RESUMEN:La neuralgia del trigémino es un síndrome clínico cuya causa frecuentemente involucrala compresión del nervio por estructuras vasculares adyacentes de conformaciónanatómica normal, especialmente por la arteria cerebelosa superior. La dolicoectasiavertebro-basilar es otra potencial causa de neuralgia del trigémino, sin embargo, menosdel 2% de los casos se encuentran relacionados con esta alteración. Se presentan trescasos de neuralgia del trigémino como manifestación inicial de dolicoectasia vertebrobasilaratendidos por miembros del Servicio de Neurocirugía de la Universidad de Cartagena.

Keywords

• Dolichoectasia
• Vertebro-basilar aneurysms
• Trigeminal neuralgia.