Trigeminal Neuralgia Caused by Cerebellopontine Angle Arteriovenous Malformation Treated With Gamma Knife Radiosurgery.

Trigeminal neuralgia is a facial pain syndrome characterized as sudden onset and lightening-like sensation over somatosensorial branch(es) of fifth cranial nerve. Rarely, some underlying diseases or disorders could be diagnosed, such as multiple sclerosis, brain tumors, and vascular malformations. The authors present a 47-year-old man with trigeminal neuralgia over left V2 and V3 dermatomes. He had a previous transarterial embolization and long use of carbamazepine with partial response to treatment. Gamma knife radiosurgery (GKR) was planned. A marginal dose of 15 Gy was given to 50% isodose line. His pain was relieved by GKR in 1.5 years. Treatment of posterior fossa arteriovenous malformations causing trigeminal neuralgia, with GKR has a very limited use in the literature. It, however, is obvious that success rate as pain relief, in a very challenging field of functional neurosurgery, is satisfactory. Large series, however, are in need to make a more comprehensive statement about efficacy and safety of the procedure in these pathologies.