title: Percutaneous retrogasserian glycerol rhizolysis. Observations and results about 50 cases.
abstract: Fifty patients complaining of trigeminal neuralgia have been treated by Percutaneous Retrogasserian Glycerol Rhizotomy (PRGR) from September 1983 to December 1985. In 94% of cases the procedure was successful in relieving pain with minor facial sensory loss, in 29 cases confined to the affected divisions, in 13 cases extending in an adjacent division. A herpes eruption occurred in 39 patients. A partial relapse (not requiring re-operation) verified in 12 patients. Even it firm conclusions cannot be reached as to the efficacy of this therapy, till when longer duration follow-up studies will not available, it seems to offer a manageable and very efficient way of treating trigeminal pain, constituting a valid alternative to other percutaneous techniques of trigeminal rhizolysis.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D005990:Glycerol / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012668:Trigeminal Ganglion / Q000187:drug effects*; D014276:Trigeminal Nerve / Q000187:drug effects*; D014277:Trigeminal Neuralgia / Q000188:drug therapy*
chemical_list: D005990:Glycerol