scholarly journals The Long-Term Outcome of CT-Guided Pulsed Radiofrequency in the Treatment of Idiopathic Glossopharyngeal Neuralgia: a preliminary multi-center case series

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fang Luo ◽  
Yitong Jia ◽  
Niti Shrestha ◽  
Xiaodi Wang ◽  
Tao Wang

Abstract Background: Safer and minimal invasive treatment options with minor side effects are in great demand for glossopharyngeal neuralgia (GPN). Pulsed radiofrequency (PRF) is a micro-destructive procedure that could be applied repeatedly without irreversible damage to target tissue. However, few studies have reported the long-term clinical outcomes of PRF in the management of idiopathic GPN patients. Methods: We retrospectively investigated the efficacy and safety of computerTomography (CT)-guided PRF in the treatment of 30 patients with idiopathic GPN in a multi-center clinical study. Numeric rating scale (NRS) score was used to evaluate pain intensity before and after PRF treatment. The effective rate was defined as the percentage of patients with NRS reduction of more than 50%. Baseline characteristics, surgical records, initial pain relief, time to take effect, long-term outcomes, patient satisfaction, the incidence of recurrence as well as subsequent treatment choices, intraoperative and postoperative complications were retrieved from electronic medical records.Results: A total of 30 idiopathic GPN patients who received PRF under CT-guidance were included in our study and the initial effective rate was 93.3%. The cumulative proportion of patients with satisfactory pain relief survival was 93.3% at 12 months, 89.6% at 24 months, 85.3% at 36 months, 79.6% at 48 months, 73.0% at 60 months and 72 months, and 54.8% at 84 months, 108 months as well as 120 months. No serious morbidity or mortality were observed in any of the cases. The median patient satisfaction in Likert scale rating was 4.0 (IQR, 3.0-5.0).Conclusion: According to our results, PRF is an effective and safe therapy for patients with idiopathic GPN. This minimally invasive, micro-destructive, neuro-modulatory technique could be a potential intervention of choice for the treatment of GPN patients who respond poorly to pharmacological treatment.

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (22;5) ◽  
pp. E467-E475
Author(s):  
Luo Fang

Background: Percutaneous radiofrequency thermocoagulation (PRFT) has been widely used to treat trigeminal neuralgia. By querying MEDLINE, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Library, no study has reported the long-term outcome of PRFT for tumor-related trigeminal neuralgia (TRTN). Objectives: In this study, we aimed to evaluate the long-term efficacy and safety of PRFT as an alternative treatment for TRTN. Study Design: A retrospective study. Setting: The interventional pain management center in Beijing Tiantan hospital. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed data of all patients who underwent PRFT applied to the Gasserian ganglion under computed tomography guidance for TRTN through a combination of available institutional electronic medical records, patient notes, and radiologic images. Results: Among 38 patients with PRFT treated between March 2007 and February 2018, 13 patients were men and 25 were women. All patients were evaluated as modified Barrow Neurological Institute (BNI) IV-V before the operation and had a total symptom duration of 45.55 ± 23.31 months. The mean operation duration was 59.63 ± 16.89 minutes. All patients experienced satisfactory pain relief defined as a classification of BNI I-IIIb within 3 days after PRFT. The median remission length with satisfactory pain relief was 33 (range, 4-132) months. No serious intraoperative complications, except bradycardia in 6 patients, were recorded. Postprocedure complications, including masticatory muscle weakness, were reported in 5 patients. Although all 38 patients experienced facial dysesthesia, the patients’ Likert scale rating represented that quality of life significantly increased after the procedure. Limitations: The small sample size may have unavoidably caused selection bias in our study. Larger prospective, randomized, multicenter trials are necessary to validate our outcomes. Conclusions: PRFT is an effective and safe treatment that should be considered as an alternative for pain control in the treatment of TRTN. Key words: Pain, secondary trigeminal neuralgia, radiofrequency thermocoagulation, trigeminal neuralgia


2020 ◽  
Vol 132 (1) ◽  
pp. 232-238 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zoe E. Teton ◽  
Katherine G. Holste ◽  
Fran A. Hardaway ◽  
Kim J. Burchiel ◽  
Ahmed M. Raslan

OBJECTIVEGlossopharyngeal neuralgia (GN) is a rare pain condition in which patients experience paroxysmal, lancinating throat pain. Multiple surgical approaches have been used to treat this condition, including microvascular decompression (MVD), and sectioning of cranial nerve (CN) IX and the upper rootlets of CN X, or a combination of the two. The aim of this study was to examine the long-term quality of life and pain-free survival after MVD and sectioning of the CN X/IX complex.METHODSA combined retrospective chart review and a quality-of-life telephone survey were performed to collect demographic and long-term outcome data. Quality of life was assessed by means of a questionnaire based on a combination of the Barrow Neurological Institute pain intensity scoring criteria and the Brief Pain Inventory–Facial. Kaplan-Meier analysis was performed to determine pain-free survival.RESULTSOf 18 patients with GN, 17 underwent sectioning of the CN IX/X complex alone or sectioning and MVD depending on the presence of a compressing vessel. Eleven of 17 patients had compression of CN IX/X by the posterior inferior cerebellar artery, 1 had compression by a vertebral artery, and 5 had no compression. One patient (6%) experienced no immediate pain relief. Fifteen (88%) of 17 patients were pain free at the last follow-up (mean 9.33 years, range 5.16–13 years). One patient (6%) experienced throat pain relapse at 3 months. The median pain-free survival was 7.5 years ± 10.6 months. Nine of 18 patients were contacted by telephone. Of the 17 patients who underwent sectioning of the CN IX/X complex, 13 (77%) patients had short-term complaints: dysphagia (n = 4), hoarseness (n = 4), ipsilateral hearing loss (n = 4), ipsilateral taste loss (n = 2), and dizziness (n = 2) at 2 weeks. Nine patients had persistent side effects at latest follow-up. Eight of 9 telephone respondents reported that they would have the surgery over again.CONCLUSIONSSectioning of the CN IX/X complex with or without MVD of the glossopharyngeal nerve is a safe and effective surgical therapy for GN with initial pain freedom in 94% of patients and an excellent long-term pain relief (mean 7.5 years).


2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keyue Xie ◽  
Songlei Liu ◽  
Bing Huang ◽  
Ming Yao

Background. Primary V1 trigeminal neuralgia is a common refractory neuralgia in clinical practice, lacking effective treatments. Radiofrequency therapy has certain treatment efficacy, but its long-term efficacy remained poor and the disease might relapse. Objective. To compare the effects of different types of supraorbital foramen variations on the treatment efficacy of radiofrequency therapy for V1 trigeminal neuralgia. Methods. Data of 54 patients with V1 trigeminal neuralgia who underwent treatment in the First Hospital of Jiaxing, Zhejiang, were retrospectively analyzed. All these patients received CT-guided radiofrequency thermocoagulation of supraorbital nerve. According to the CT images, the supraorbital foramen of the patients was categorized as holes (hole group) or notches (notch group). The patient characteristics, including Numerical Rating Scale (NRS) score and effective treatment rates before and 1 d, 0.5 y, 1 y, and 2 y after operation, and numbness degree at day 1 and 2 y after the operation were compared. The short- and long-term complications during postoperative follow-up period were also recorded. Results. Among the 54 patients, 25 patients were grouped into the hole group and 29 into the notch group. The NRS scores before and at 1 d, 0.5 y, 1 y, and 2 y after operation showed no significant differences between the two groups. However, the NRS scores at the remaining time points after operation were significantly decreased when compared with scores before operation (P<0.05). The numbness and numbness degree after operation showed no significant differences between the two groups. The numbness degree at 2 y after operation was significantly lower than 1 d after operation (P<0.05). The effective rate at 1 d, 0.5 y, and 1 y after operation showed no significant differences between the hole and notch groups. However, the effective rate at 2 y after operation was significantly lower in the notch group than hole group (P<0.05). No severe short- or long-term complications were found in either group. Conclusion. The short- and long-term effective rates of radiofrequency therapy during V1 trigeminal neuralgia treatment are relatively high in patients with different types of supraorbital foramen variations. However, the effective rate is even higher in patients with hole-type supraorbital foramen. No other severe complications, except numbness, were found, and the acceptability rate remained high in patients.


Medicina ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 57 (2) ◽  
pp. 136
Author(s):  
Pavel Ryska ◽  
Jiri Jandura ◽  
Petr Hoffmann ◽  
Petr Dvorak ◽  
Blanka Klimova ◽  
...  

Background and objectives: For the treatment of chronic unilateral radicular syndrome, there are various methods including three minimally invasive computed tomography (CT)-guided methods, namely, pulsed radiofrequency (PRF), transforaminal oxygen ozone therapy (TFOOT), and transforaminal epidural steroid injection (TFESI). Despite this, it is still unclear which of these methods is the best in terms of pain reduction and disability improvement. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the short and long-term effectiveness of these methods by measuring pain relief using the visual analogue scale (VAS) and improvement in disability (per the Oswestry disability index (ODI)) in patients with chronic unilateral radicular syndrome at L5 or S1 that do not respond to conservative treatment. Materials and Methods: After screening 692 patients, we enrolled 178 subjects, each of whom underwent one of the above CT-guided procedures. The PRF settings were as follows: pulse width = 20 ms, f = 2 Hz, U = 45 V, Z ˂ 500 Ω, and interval = 2 × 120 s. For TFOOT, an injection of 4–5 mL of an O2-O3 mixture (24 μg/mL) was administered. For the TFESI, 1 mL of a corticosteroid (betamethasone dipropionate), 3 mL of an anaesthetic (bupivacaine hydrochloride), and a 0.5 mL mixture of a non-ionic contrast agent (Iomeron 300) were administered. Pain intensity was assessed with a questionnaire. Results: The data from 178 patients (PRF, n = 57; TFOOT, n = 69; TFESI, n = 52) who submitted correctly completed questionnaires in the third month of the follow-up period were used for statistical analysis. The median pre-treatment visual analogue scale (VAS) score in all groups was six points. Immediately after treatment, the largest decrease in the median VAS score was observed in the TFESI group, with a score of 3.5 points (a decrease of 41.7%). In the PRF and TFOOT groups, the median VAS score decreased to 4 and 5 points (decreases of 33% and 16.7%, respectively). The difference in the early (immediately after) post-treatment VAS score between the TFESI and TFOOT groups was statistically significant (p = 0.0152). At the third and sixth months after treatment, the median VAS score was five points in all groups, without a statistically significant difference (p > 0.05). Additionally, there were no significant differences in the Oswestry disability index (ODI) values among the groups at any of the follow-up visits. Finally, there were no significant effects of age or body mass index (BMI) on both treatment outcomes (maximum absolute value of Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient = 0.193). Conclusions: Although the three methods are equally efficient in reducing pain over the entire follow-up, we observed that TFESI (a corticosteroid with a local anaesthetic) proved to be the most effective method for early post-treatment pain relief.


2018 ◽  
Vol 130 (1) ◽  
pp. 84-89 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shiro Horisawa ◽  
Taku Ochiai ◽  
Shinichi Goto ◽  
Takeshi Nakajima ◽  
Nobuhiko Takeda ◽  
...  

OBJECTIVEMeige syndrome is characterized by blepharospasm and varied subphenotypes of craniocervical dystonia. Current literature on pallidal surgery for Meige syndrome is limited to case reports and a few small-scale studies. The authors investigated the clinical outcomes of deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the globus pallidus internus (GPi) in patients with Meige syndrome.METHODSSixteen patients who underwent GPi DBS at the Tokyo Women’s Medical University Hospital between 2002 and 2015 were included in this study. Burke-Fahn-Marsden Dystonia Rating Scale (BFMDRS) movement subscale (BFMDRS-M) scores (range 0–120) obtained at the following 3 time points were included in this analysis: before surgery, 3 months after surgery, and at the most recent follow-up evaluation.RESULTSThe patients’ mean age (± SD) at symptom onset was 46.7 ± 10.1 years, and the mean disease duration at the time of the authors’ initial evaluation was 5.9 ± 4.1 years. In 12 patients, the initial symptom was blepharospasm, and the other 4 patients presented with cervical dystonia. The mean postoperative follow-up period was 66.6 ± 40.7 months (range 13–150 months). The mean total BFMDRS-M scores at the 3 time points were 16.3 ± 5.5, 5.5 ± 5.6 (66.3% improvement, p < 0.001), and 6.7 ± 7.3 (58.9% improvement, p < 0.001).CONCLUSIONSThe results indicate long-term efficacy for GPi DBS for the majority of patients with Meige syndrome.


Neurosurgery ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 67 (4) ◽  
pp. 957-963 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesco Cacciola ◽  
Jibril Osman Farah ◽  
Paul R Eldridge ◽  
Patricia Byrne ◽  
Telekath K Varma

Abstract BACKGROUND: Bilateral globus pallidus internus (GPi) deep brain stimulation (DBS) was shown to be effective in cervical dystonia refractory to medical treatment in several small short-term and 1 long-term follow-up series. Optimal stimulation parameters and their repercussions on the cost/benefit ratio still need to be established. OBJECTIVE: To report our long-term outcome with bilateral GPi deep brain stimulation in cervical dystonia. METHODS: The Toronto Western Spasmodic Torticollis Rating Scale was evaluated in 10 consecutive patients preoperatively and at last follow-up. The relationship of improvement in postural severity and pain was analyzed and stimulation parameters noted and compared with those in a similar series in the literature. RESULTS: The mean (standard deviation) follow-up was 37.6 (16.9) months. Improvement in the total Toronto Western Spasmodic Torticollis Rating Scale score as evaluated at latest follow-up was 68.1% (95% confidence interval: 51.5-84.6). In 4 patients, there was dissociation between posture severity and pain improvement. Prevalently bipolar stimulation settings and high pulse widths and amplitudes led to excellent results at the expense of battery life. CONCLUSION: Improvement in all 3 subscale scores of the Toronto Western Spasmodic Torticollis Rating Scale with bilateral GPi deep brain stimulation seems to be the rule. Refinement of stimulation parameters might have a significant impact on the cost/benefit ratio of the treatment. The dissociation of improvement in posture severity and pain provides tangible evidence of the complex nature of cervical dystonia and offers interesting insight into the complex functional organization of the GPi.


CNS Spectrums ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 3 (9) ◽  
pp. 72-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nancy J. Keuthen ◽  
Richard L. O’Sullivan ◽  
Paige Goodchild ◽  
Dayami Rodriguez ◽  
Michael A. Jenike ◽  
...  

AbstractSixty-three trichotillomania (TTM) patients treated in a specialty clinic were retrospectively studied for treatment referral patterns, comparison of treatment outcomes, and long-term follow-up. Patients subjectively rated their individual treatments based on success, logicality, confidence in recommending the treatment to others, outcome expectations, and compliance. Subjects referred for combined behavior therapy (BT) and medication treatment (MT) were more depressed, more anxious, and reported greater psychosocial impairment and impact secondary to hair pulling than individuals referred for either treatment alone. Neither the Massachusetts General Hospital Hair Pulling Severity Scale (HPS) nor the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (SES) scores differed between those referred for combined treatment vs those receiving monotherapy. The combination therapy patients showed a greater reduction in HPS scores than those receiving single-modality treatment and no longer differed significantly from monotherapy patients following treatment in terms of Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Beck Anxiety Index (BAI), and Sickness Impact Profile (SIP) scores. Patients treated with both BT and MT rated BT as more successful and had greater confidence in recommending the intervention. Conversely, compliance was significantly higher for MT than BT. Other treatments, especially support groups, were rated positively. Comparison of patients currently receiving treatment with those no longer in active treatment revealed no statistically significant differences. Ten of 19 patients who were out of treatment for over 1 year rated themselves as treatment responders. Significant improvements in HPS, BDI, BAI, and SES scores were reported in the few hair pullers out of treatment more than 1 year for whom objective rating scale scores were available.


2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-15
Author(s):  
Byung-chul Son ◽  
Jin-gyu Choi ◽  
Sang-woo Ha ◽  
Deog-ryeong Kim

Objective Although deep brain stimulation (DBS) and motor cortex stimulation (MCS) are effective in patients with refractory neuropathic pain, their application is still empirical; there is no consensus on which technique is better. Methods To enhance the success rate of trial stimulation of invasive neuromodulation techniques and identify approapriate stimulation targets in individual patients, we performed a simultaneous trial of thalamic ventralis caudalis (Vc) DBS and MCS in 11 patients with chronic neuropathic pain and assessed the results of the trial stimulation and long-term analgesia. Results Of the 11 patients implanted with both DBS and MCS electrodes, nine (81.8%) had successful trials. Seven of these nine patients (77.8%) responded to MCS, and two (18.2%) responded to Vc DBS. With long-term follow-up (56 ± 27.5 months), the mean numerical rating scale decreased significantly (P < 0.05). The degree of percentage pain relief in the chronic MCS (n = 7) and chronic DBS (n = 2) groups were 34.1% ± 18.2% and 37.5%, respectively, and there was no significant difference (P = 0.807). Five out of the seven MCS patients (71%) and both DBS patients had long-term success with the treatments, defined as >30% pain relief compared with baseline. Conclusions With simultaneous trial of DBS and MCS, we could enhance the success rate of invasive trials. Considering the initial success rate and the less invasive nature of epidural MCS over DBS, we suggest that MCS may be a better, initial means of treatment in chronic intractable neuropathic pain. Further investigations including other subcortical target-associated medial pain pathways are warranted.


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