Surgical Options for Atypical Facial Pain Syndromes.
Atypical neuropathic facial pain is a syndrome of intractable and unremitting facial pain that is secondary to nociceptive signaling in the trigeminal system. These syndromes are often recalcitrant to pharmacotherapy and other common interventions, including microvascular decompression and percutaneous procedures. Herein, the authors present two other viable approaches (nucleus caudalis dorsal root entry zone lesioning and motor cortex stimulation), their indications, and finally a possible treatment algorithm to consider when assessing patients with atypical facial pain.
Department of Neurosurgery, Duke University Medical Center, DUMC 3807, Durham, NC 27710, USA.
Shervin
S
Rahimpour
Department of Neurosurgery, Duke University Medical Center, DUMC 3807, Durham, NC 27710, USA. Electronic address: nandan.lad@dm.duke.edu.
Shivanand P
SP
Lad
D005157:Facial Pain / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D019635:Neurosurgical Procedures / Q000379:methods*; D016896:Treatment Outcome
Atypical facial pain; DREZ; Motor cortex stimulation; Nucleus caudalis