Your Complete Guide to Trigeminal Neuralgia; A. M. Kaufmann & M. Patel, CCND Winnipeg

Part Two: Treatment of Trigeminal Neuralgia

I. Overview of Treatments

Microscope used in MVD surgery.

Medications are the first line of treatment for TN and include carbamazepine (Tegretol®), phenytoin (Dilantin®), gabapentin (Neurontin®) and baclophen (Lioresal®). As the disease progresses and pain becomes more frequent and severe, increased doses of medications are required which may lead to intolerable side effects and/or inadequate pain control. Each sufferer has differing tolerance to these medications and pain, but at least half will eventually find that medications do not adequately control their progressively worsening TN. The surgical procedures then considered are either microvascular decompression surgery or some form of nerve injury procedure (rhizotomies).

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Prepared by A. M. Kaufmann & M. Patel
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