Trigeminal surgery: A review

Abstract

Introduction: The study of trigeminal surgery is linked to trigeminal neuralgia and being a serious disorder can impair the patient's quality of life. Objective: To analyze the literature on relevant aspects of trigeminal surgery, such as decompression, sensitivity, anesthesia and schwannomas. Methodology: PubMed, SCOPUS and Google Scholar databases were reviewed to find recent articles published on trigeminal surgery with the following keywords: “trigeminal nerve”, “trigeminal surgery”, “decompression”, “schwannomas”, “anesthesia”. Results: Microvascular decompression is the most effective procedure for the management of trigeminal neuralgia; highly favourable results have been achieved with this technique. Sensitivity is of great importance in the treatment of this condition, since it is the reason why patients will come for consultation with the aim of eliminating any discomfort related to a nerve condition. Anesthesia requires correct management for a good result in trigeminal surgery and to provide the best care and recovery to patients. Schwannomas are usually benign and rare intracranial tumours. There are several treatments that can help to treat them, the most used and that has achieved excellent results is gamma knife radiosurgery.Conclusions: Trigeminal neuralgia is a condition that usually appears in one or more branches of the trigeminal nerve, trigeminal surgery is usually a method to treat this condition by means of different techniques such as microvascular decompression and thus achieve disappearance of this disorder.