Carlos L. Perez, M.D.
Department of Radiology
UT Southwestern Medical Center
5323 Harry Hines Blvd.
Dallas, TX 75390-8896
214-648-3928
http://www.utsouthwestern.edu/findfac/professional/0,2356,15631,00.html
Transcript: Role of the MRI
There is a role for imaging in trigeminal neuralgia patients. Imaging can be helpful in excluding certain causes of trigeminal neuralgia such as underlying tumors or masses as well as demyelinating process such as multiple sclerosis.
Imaging can also be helpful in evaluating for another potential cause of trigeminal neuralgia and that is vascular compression, when a vessel actually presses on or compresses the trigeminal nerve. Now of course we don’t always find this on imaging.