Long-term pain relief at five years after medical, repeat surgical procedures or no management for recurrence of trigeminal neuralgia after microvascular decompression: analysis of a historical cohort

Background: Management strategies for the recurrence of trigeminal neuralgia after microvascular decompression include repeat procedures, medical management or no further therapy. No consensus exists as to which strategy is best for pain relief. The aim of this study was to determine the characteristics of patients with recurrences after microvascular decompression in the cohort, and to compare long-term pain relief between different management strategies.

Materials and methods: A historical cohort of patients who underwent microvascular decompression at a neurosurgical institution between 1982-2002, followed up by postal survey at five years, was included. Characteristics of patients who experienced a recurrence were compared to those who were recurrence free, and pain relief was compared between each management strategy.

Results: From 169 responders who were included in the study, 28 (16.6%) experienced a recurrence after MVD. No characteristics were significantly different between patients who experienced a recurrence and those who did not. Repeat procedures, including repeat microvascular decompression, partial sensory rhizotomy or radiofrequency thermocoagulation, yielded the highest proportion of pain relief after recurrence (p = 0.031), with 63.6% of patients pain-free at five-years. There was no evidence to suggest that the choice of repeat procedure influenced the likelihood of pain relief after recurrence. No further treatment yielded 57.1% pain-free, whereas medical therapy had the lowest proportion of pain-free patients, at 10.0%.

Conclusion: A variety of options are available to patients for recurrence of TN after microvascular decompression with repeat procedures yielding the greatest likelihood of long-term pain relief in this historical cohort. The choice of management should consider the mechanism of recurrence, the benefits and risks of each option and the severity of the pain. Regardless of the management strategy selected, careful phenotyping of patients before and after surgery is paramount.