Electrophysiological aspects of mini-invasive trigeminal neuralgia management

Abstract

Brain-steam acoustic evoked potentials (BAEP) study was carried out in 84 patients with chronic-pain syndrome due to trigeminal neuralgia (TN). Preoperative BAEP changes were detected in all patients with TN. There were no specific differences in BAEP among variants of the disease course preoperatively. Percutaneous radiofrequency termocoagulation of Gasserian ganglion could be explored in all etiological types of TN. The lesion in trigeminal ganglion raised functional activity in the brain-stem part of the antinociceptive system. The radiofrequency lesion blocked the afferent pulsation from a peripheral part. It both relieved the severe pain and restored the damaged sanogenetic mechanism of pain suppression. Unrestorable BAEPs postoperatively were a prognostic factor for the pain relapse in patients with TN.