title: Cyberknife radiosurgery for trigeminal neuralgia.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  We present preliminary results using Cyberknife radiosurgery as a noninvasive treatment for trigeminal neuralgia (TN).
  
  
  METHODS
  Ten patients with medically refractory TN who were deemed unsuitable for conventional surgery underwent Cyberknife radiosurgery using CT cisternography for localization.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Pain relief was achieved in 7 patients, in 5 of them within 24-72 h after irradiation.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Cyberknife radiosurgery can achieve early-onset pain relief in a subset of TN patients. Improvements using this technique include the absence of a stereotactic ring, potentially improved targeting accuracy produced by CT cisternography and improved dose homogeneity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Stanford University Medical Center, Stanford, CA, USA. pantaleo@stanford.edu
authors.forename: Pantaleo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Romanelli
authors.forename: Gary
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Heit
authors.forename: Steven D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Dave
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pham
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Adler
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D016634:Radiosurgery; D025321:Surgery, Computer-Assisted; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014276:Trigeminal Nerve / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000601:surgery; D014277:Trigeminal Neuralgia / Q000601:surgery*