title: Typical trigeminal neuralgia associated with posterior cranial fossa tumors.
abstract: A clinical diagnosis of typical trigeminal neuralgia does not rule out the possibility of a space-occupying lesion compressing the nerve along its course from the brainstem to Meckel's cave. 4 cases of typical trigeminal neuralgia, treated medically for several years and seen here recently before a space-occupying lesion was found in the posterior cranial fossa, point up the need for thorough neurological and neuroradiological examination of all patients with the typical symptoms. Lesion removal resulted in total relief from pain in 3 patients. In the fourth patient the pain was controlled by percutaneous surgery with thermocoagulation of the gasserian ganglion.
authors.affiliation: Istituto di Neurochirurgia, Università Cattolica, Roma.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Puca
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Meglio
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001927:Brain Diseases / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis; D002530:Cerebellopontine Angle; D003388:Cranial Fossa, Posterior; D004814:Epidermal Cyst / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008577:Meningeal Neoplasms / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis; D008875:Middle Aged; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D014277:Trigeminal Neuralgia / Q000209:etiology*