Case report: Fully endoscopic microvascular decompression for trigeminal neuralgia

Abstract

Microvascular decompression is safe, effective, and micro-invasive. Due to these advantages, it has become the mainstream treatment for trigeminal neuralgia, glossopharyngeal neuralgia, and hemifacial spasm. Initially, microvascular decompression was performed under a microscope, which limited the light source and visualization capabilities. With the development of endoscopic technology, the endoscope has been used in microvascular decompression, which further improved the visualization range and light source properties. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the efficacy of fully endoscopic microvascular decompression for the treatment of trigeminal neuralgia. In total, three patients with trigeminal neuralgia who underwent fully endoscopic microvascular decompression were evaluated. After surgery, the facial pain of all patients was significantly relieved. In addition, there were no obvious postoperative complications and no recurrence after 6 months of follow-up. These excellent surgical outcomes indicate that fully endoscopic microvascular decompression is an effective and safe method for the treatment of trigeminal neuralgia. Furthermore, it also shows that the endoscope presents advantages for use in microvascular decompression.

Fully endoscopic microvascular decompression for trigeminal neuralgia: technical note and early outcomes

“…[16] In the following decade, it has been reported in several other single-center series and considered as an effective and save method to treat primary TN. [5,10,17,27,35] In this study, we performed fully endoscopic MVD from dura was opened to be closed. Unlike to most surgeons who preferred to x the endoscope to a holder during MVD operation, [5,16,18,35] the assistant held endoscope in our department.…”

“…[9] Usually, drug therapy is used in the primary treatment for TN and carbamazepine is the rst drug of choice. [4,9,17] Other drugs, such oxcarbazepine, gabapentin, and lamotrigine, are used in the treatment of TN too. [4] However, many patients suffered from TN could not always bene t from drug therapy due to drug intolerance or side effects.…”

“…[8, 36] But endoscopic-assisted MVD need to switch between microscopy and endoscopy that is lack of operation exibility and prolong the operative time. To date, only a few of cases have been reported fully endoscopic MVD (EVD) for the treatment of TN [5,[16][17][18]35]. Here, we present our technical note of fully endoscopic MVD for treatment TN and patients' early outcomes.…”