Tony Whitworth, M.D.
Department of Neurological Surgery
UT Southwestern Medical Center
5303 Harry Hines Blvd.
4th Floor, Suite 100
Dallas, TX 75390-9167
214-645-2300
Transcript: Glycerol rhizotomy explained
Glycerol rhizotomy is one of the treatment options for trigeminal neuralgia. What it involves is a needle being inserted, up through the cheek through a small hole in the base of the skull and into the trigeminal ganglion. Once the needle is in place, some alcohol or glycerol is injected into the ganglion to provide pain relief. The alcohol is damaging to the nerve and will provide not only pain relief but a high degree of numbness on the side of the face treated. Therefore this is not a procedure that I recommend for most patients. It is however less invasive than microvascular decompression and for those patients that can not undergo a major surgical procedure, it is a good option. In addition, glycerol rhizotomy can provide patients with immediate pain relief which is something that the gamma knife can not do.