title: Trigeminal neuralgia and facial pain imaging.
abstract: The trigeminal nerve or fifth cranial nerve has an extensive distribution in the head and face. It is the source for pain conduction and thereby is often implicated in a variety of disorders including inflammatory and neoplastic diseases. To determine the disease source, understanding the trigeminal nerve anatomy is essential, and further being able to image the trigeminal nerve provides insight into the location and type of pathology. The best approach to imaging is to consider the nerve in segments. The nerve segments may be divided into the brainstem, cisternal, Meckel's cave, cavernous sinus, and peripheral divisions. This review utilizes these segments to explore imaging options to help understand trigeminal neuralgia and pain in the trigeminal nerve distribution.
authors.affiliation: The Pain Center, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, 444 South San Vicente Blvd., #1101, Los Angeles, CA, 90048, USA, Steven.Graff-Radford@cshs.org.
authors.forename: Steven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Graff-Radford
authors.forename: Rachael
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gordon
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ganal
authors.forename: Sotirois
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tetradis
mesh_terms: D002533:Cerebral Angiography; D003287:Contrast Media; D003390:Cranial Nerve Neoplasms / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005157:Facial Pain / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D009055:Mouth / Q000473:pathology*; D014276:Trigeminal Nerve / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000473:pathology*; D014277:Trigeminal Neuralgia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D003287:Contrast Media