Percutaneous radiofrequency trigeminal gangliolysis in the treatment of tic douloureux.

The treatment of tic douloureux was dramatically altered in 1962 with the demonstration that carbamazepine (Tegretol(R)) alone or in combination with diphenylhydantoin sodium (Dilantin(R)) was effective in controlling the painful paroxysms. However, 30 percent of the patients so treated have not been successfully managed and some type of surgical therapy is required to control their pain. A wide variety of surgical alternatives are available but they all trade a sensory deficit for pain relief and have a significant risk of morbidity and mortality. Experience with percutaneous radiofrequency trigeminal gangliolysis has indicated that this new technique is capable of producing lasting relief of tic douloureux in as many as 95 percent of the patients. To date there have been no deaths from this procedure and a very low incidence of minor complications. It achieves this high success rate at the expense of only partial sensory deficits restricted to a circumscribed area of the face. No other surgical alternative carries such a high long-term success rate with a low complication rate. We believe that percutaneous radiofrequency trigeminal gangliolysis has become the surgical treatment of choice for tic douloureux.