Cyberknife radiosurgery for trigeminal neuralgia.
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.
Romanelli
Pantaleo
P
Department of Neurosurgery, Stanford University Medical Center, Stanford, CA, USA. pantaleo@stanford.edu
Heit
Gary
G
Chang
Steven D
SD
Martin
Dave
D
Pham
Christopher
C
Adler
John
J
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*