Percutaneous balloon compression of trigeminal ganglion for the treatment of idiopathic trigeminal neuralgia : experience in 50 patients.

Objective: We assessed the surgical results of percutaneous balloon compression in 50 patients with idiopathic trigeminal neuralgia.

Methods: Fifty patients with follow-up period of more than 12 months were retrospectively analyzed. The mean follow-up period was 42 months (range, 12-82). The mean age was 65.8 years (range, 27-83). Seventeen patients (34%) had other previous surgical procedures. The balloon was inflated by injecting radio-contrast media under brief general anesthesia according to Mullan's technique. The mean inflating time was 88 seconds (range, 60-120). The whole procedure took about 20 minutes.

Results: We reported excellent and good results in 70% of the cases, poor in 6% as annoying dysesthesia, recurrence in 16%, and 8% failure due to technical deficiencies. Forty-six patients (92%) were initially relieved of their pain. There were permanent motor weakness of the masseter muscle in 4% of patients and transitory diplopia in 8%. Neither anesthesia dolorosa nor keratitis occurred. Almost all patients (92%) were discharged postoperatively within two days.

Conclusion: These results indicate that balloon compression would be an effective method with acceptable morbidity, technically, it can be performed rapidly and simply in the treatment of idiopathic trigeminal neuralgia.