THE ROLE OF CRYOTHERAPY IN THE TREATMENT OF TRIGEMINAL NEURALGIA

Abstract

Trigeminal neuralgia is a sudden brief, usually uni-lateral, severe recurrent pain in the distribution 2nd or 3rd branches of the fifth cranial nerve. There isn't a definite treatment protocol al neuralgia because its etiology is still unclear. Hence its treatment is a challenging problem for the clinicians Treatment modalities for trigeminal neuralgia are, medical therapy, alcohol, phenol or glycerol injections. microvascillar decompression. neurectomy, rhizotomy, radiosurgery techniques and in recent years laser application. Then the patient trigeminal neuralgia, medical therapy is preferred primaril, but surgical procedures has become widespread because by the time of progress a resistance develops against medicines. But surqical procedures can be dangerous because of complication:: and the patients' systemic conditions may not be suitable for suroerv. For this reason less "becomes common in use. Cryotherapy technique is a desirable technique both for patient and doctor because of its positise propen ics. It can be applied easily and repeatedly, its complication rate is loss and its results are obviously good. is applied locally in this way, peripheric nerve's conduction features are altered and nerve conduction is blocked. In this review, the pros and cons of cryotherapy procedure and its effectiveness is reviewed in the light of the recent studies.