Background. Trigeminal neuralgia: sudden, usually unilateral, severe brief stubbing recurrent pain in the distribution of trigeminal nerve. Radiofrequency thermocoagulation (RT) of the Gasserian ganglion is one of the surgical procedure used in the treatment of trigeminal neuralgia. The aim of this study is to assess the effectiveness of intraoperative injection of pentoxyphilline and methylprednisolone in comparison with saline to prevent postoperative inflammation caused by radiofrequency lesion.
Material and method. The research was made in 65 patients treated by radiofrequency because of trigeminal neuralgia. The patients were randomly divided into three groups. During radiofrequency the first group has received methylprednisolone, the second pentoxyphilline, and the there’d isotonic salt solution (control). Efficiency of that treatment was estimated according to NRS, MPQ, the five-degree scale of pain relief. The research was done in four time intervals (2 hours, 7, 30, 90 days after RT).
Results. The pain relief was obtained in 72.31% of patients. The group receiving pentoxyphilline during RT has definitely obtained better results in all parameters than the other groups. Side effects after RT was observed in 33 cases in the first two weeks. Slightly lower number of side effects has occurred in pentoxyphilline group. Patients received locally penthoxiphiline during RT showed better pain relief during whole observation period (90 days) than control. The duration of pain did not influence the effect of RT treatment of trigeminal neuralgia.
Conclusions. Patients who received locally pentoxyphilline during RT showed better pain relief during whole observation period (90 days) than control. The locally applicated methyloprednisolone did not influence the effect of RT. Patients received locally penthoxiphiline during RT had less side effects than patients from other groups.