Mark E. Linskey, M.D.
Department of Neurological Surgery
University of California, Irvine Medical Center
101 The City Drive, Bldg. 56, Suite 400
Orange, CA 92868
714-456-6966
http://neurosurgery.uci.edu/facultybio/linskey/
Transcript: Trigeminal neuralgia is a progressive syndrome
In the majority of patients with trigeminal neuralgia this is a progressive syndrome. While you may have spontaneous remissions and many even lasting as long as six months, it does come back and it does progress. And as the cause with a vascular compression affecting the nerve progresses, damage is accumulating in the nerve. You know that clinically because there are larger areas of the face involved. What may have been restricted to one region is now spreading to involve others. You may realize that because you’re beginning to develop some tingling paresthesia, some pins and needles feelings in certain areas or developing a dull burning minor component background pain behind the sharp stabbing shock like pain.
This damage is accumulating within the nerve and this also has affect on outcome. We know statistically that time is an important measure for chances of success after a microvascular decompression and one can understand why. Microvascular decompression doesn’t repair the nerve. The body has to. Microvascular decompression takes away the cause of the problem to allow the body to heal. But if the damage has now gone so far that the body can’t heal it, chances are you’re going to be left with some continued problem.