Diagnosis and treatment of patients with trigeminal neuralgia.

Background: The authors review the literature regarding the etiology, diagnosis and treatment of trigeminal neuralgia, or TN. They also describe a patient with the disease.

Types Of Studies Reviewed: A MEDLINE search was conducted to identify articles published within the last 10 years regarding current thinking on the etiology, diagnosis and treatment of TN. The authors also reviewed historic articles to gather information about the initial discovery and descriptions of this condition.

Results: The authors identified more than 50 articles on the topic. Generally, there was concordance regarding the diagnosis of this condition; however, some questions and controversy exist regarding the pathogenesis and treatment modality of choice. The authors relied on the most representative and complete articles for this review article.

Clinical Implications: TN is the most common form of neuralgia, and patients often visit several clinicians with complaints of pain. Clinicians must recognize this condition and diagnose it correctly for patients to receive proper referral and therapy for this relatively treatable condition.