Analysis of short-term efficacy of radiofrequency thermocoagulation in the treatment of classic trigeminal neuralgia

The objectives of the study were to explore the short-term efficacy of radiofrequency thermocoagulation for the treatment of classic trigeminal neuralgia (TGN). A retrospective analysis of 58 patients with classical TGN treated with radiofrequency thermocoagulation at our institution between 2016 and 2019, including 23 men and 35 women. The mean age of all patients was 62.1±10.9 years, the duration of the disease ranged from 2 months to 360 months, and the mean duration of the disease was 80.1±77.9 months. Patients were divided into three groups, V2, V3, and V2+V3, according to the site of symptom presenta-tion. Treatment effectiveness was evaluated by observing patients’ before surgery, after surgery, and 1-year after surgery visual pain simulation (VAS) scores. The clinical efficacy was evaluated by calculating the percentage of patients whose net improve-ment in VAS scores of the three groups of patients V2, V3, and V2+V3 reached the minimal clinically important differences MCID value of TGN. Patients’ after surgery VAS scores and 1-year after surgery VAS scores all showed meaningful improvement (p<0.001) compared with pre-operative VAS scores, and after surgery VAS scores showed meaningful change (p<0.05) com-pared with 1-year after surgery VAS scores. About 84.62%, 95.45%, and 86.96% of patients in V2, V3, and V2+V3 groups showed net improvement in after surgery VAS scores to MCID values, and 69.2%, 86.4%, and 74.0% of patients in 1-year after surgery VAS scores showed net improvement to MCID values, respectively. The early efficacy of radiofrequency thermocoagulation for classic TGN is significant, but patients have a tendency to have recurrence of pain symptoms 1 year after surgery.