1. Trigeminal Neuralgia Secondary to Intracranial Neoplastic Lesions: a Case Series and Comprehensive Review
- Author
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Lara Mastino, Antonio Santoro, Daniele Armocida, Valerio di Norcia, Manolo Piccirilli, Luigi Valentino Berra, and Andrea Di Rita
- Subjects
Adult ,Male ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Adolescent ,Brain tumor ,Disease ,Neurosurgical Procedures ,Lesion ,03 medical and health sciences ,Young Adult ,0302 clinical medicine ,Trigeminal neuralgia ,Facial Pain ,Preoperative Care ,Medicine ,Humans ,In patient ,Aged ,Retrospective Studies ,medicine.diagnostic_test ,business.industry ,Brain Neoplasms ,Magnetic resonance imaging ,030206 dentistry ,Middle Aged ,Trigeminal Neuralgia ,medicine.disease ,Magnetic Resonance Imaging ,brain tumors ,facial pain ,MRI ,skull base tumors ,trigeminal neuralgia ,Clinical diagnosis ,Neuropathic pain ,Surgery ,Female ,Neurology (clinical) ,Radiology ,medicine.symptom ,business ,030217 neurology & neurosurgery - Abstract
It is known that intracranial tumors may trigger trigeminal neuralgia (TN) in some patients although the exact prevalence and occurrence is not completely defined yet. In the present study, we present a case series of patients with brain tumor and a clinical diagnosis of TN as the first and main manifestation of the disease. A retrospective analysis was performed involving patients diagnosed with brain tumor whose exclusive clinical feature our department focused on was TN. In addition, a review of all published cases was performed. From January 2017 to November 2018, 718 patients with brain tumor were admitted to our department, 17 of which suffered of TN, of which 8 patients presented with at least another neurologic symptom and 9 patients presented with TN alone, with typical symptoms of stubbing electric pain in 6 cases. In our series, we found that 2.3% of patients admitted for brain tumors had TN. In 0.8% of cases, TN was the main clinical symptom. The prevalence of tumor lesion in patients with facial neuropathic pain is not defined, but it is a well-known recognized initial symptom; however, early cerebral magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is not yet strongly recommended in patients with newly diagnosed trigeminal neuralgia. The purpose of this article is, especially in unusual cases, to show that the application of such MR techniques and preoperative evaluation may contribute to diagnosis, indication, and surgery planning.
- Published
- 2020