Reducing unnecessary morbidity from percutaneous thermocoagulation in the treatment of trigeminal neuralgia. Part B: a computerized protocol for quantitative analysis of data for radiofrequency thermocoagulation with the quadripolar electrode method and technique.
OBJECTIVE
An original method and technique was designed to reduce the still significant morbidity of percutaneous thermocoagulation in the treatment of trigeminal neuralgia. A critical part of this technique is the computerized analysis of data, which is the subject of this report.


METHODS
We fully describe the computerized program for data collection and analysis, which is designed to evaluate addressed and unaddressed aspects of trigeminal neuralgia using the quadripolar electrode method and technique.


CONCLUSIONS
The computerized analysis of multiple clinical and radiological variables, including verbal responses from 34 facial subsegments, allows the description of the somatotopic map of the human gasserian ganglion, and the conclusions propose to attempt to abolish unnecessary residual morbidity of thermocoagulation in the treatment of trigeminal neuralgia.
Karol
Eduardo A
EA
Department of Neurosurgery, Buenos Aires University, Buenos Aires, Argentina. drkarol@fibertel.com.ar
Karol
Bettina
B
Larramendy
Marcelo
M
D002985:Clinical Protocols; D017076:Computer-Aided Design; D003625:Data Collection / Q000295:instrumentation*; D004564:Electrocoagulation / Q000379:methods*; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D010147:Pain Measurement; D011183:Postoperative Complications; D011300:Preoperative Care; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014277:Trigeminal Neuralgia / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery*; D014705:Verbal Behavior / Q000502:physiology