Skull Base Institute Leads In Trigeminal Neuralgia Surgery
February 2nd, 2009 -- Posted in Medical Informations | No Comments »Neuralgia is a general term for nerve pain affecting the peripheral nerves. Neuralgia often results in head and neck pain that is spasmodic, and is an extremely painful disorder that can completely destroy a person’s quality of life. The causes of Neuralgia can depend on the type. As stated before, spinal injury or certain diseases can cause occipital neuralgia. Chemical irritation, inflammation, recent trauma, compression of nerves by tumors, and infections may all lead to neuralgia. In many cases, however, the cause is unknown. The most frequent cause of trigeminal neuralgia is a blood vessel pressing on the nerve near the brain stem. Over time, changes in the blood vessels of the brain can result in a blood vessels rubbing against the trigeminal nerve root. The constant rubbing with each heartbeat wears away the insulating membrane of the nerve, resulting in nerve irritation. There are three types of neuralgia, namely trigeminal, postherpetic and occipital.
Trigeminal Neuralgia is a pain that is described as among the most acute known to mankind. It is also known as tic douloureux. It is a chronic pain condition that causes extreme, sporadic, sudden burning or shock-like face pain that lasts anywhere from a few seconds to as long as 2 minutes per episode. The pain of trigeminal neuralgia may occur in a fairly small area of your face, or it may spread rapidly over a wider area. If you have trigeminal neuralgia, attacks of such pain are frequent and can often seem unbearable. These painful attacks can be spontaneous, but they may also be provoked by even mild stimulation of your face, including brushing your teeth, shaving or putting on makeup. Trigeminal neuralgia is considered by many to be among the most painful of conditions and has been labeled the suicide disease, due to the significant numbers of people taking their own lives because they were unable to have their pain controlled with medications or surgery. Trigeminal neuralgia affects the trigeminal nerve, one of the largest nerves in the head. There is some evidence that the disorder runs in families, perhaps because of an inherited pattern of blood vessel formation.
If medication fails to relieve pain or produces intolerable side effects such as excess fatigue, surgical treatment may be recommended. Skull Base Institute is the leading provider in surgeries for Trigeminal Neuralgia as well as for Pituitary Tumor. They have performed thousands of surgeries as last resort when other doctors have all claimed the brain surgery was in-operable.