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Hindi Research Article
Carbon-dioxide Laser in the Treatment of Trigeminal Neuralgia: A Preliminary Study
Somchai Sessirisombat*Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Faculty of Dentistry, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand
- *Corresponding Author:
- Somchai Sessirisombat
Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery
Faculty of Dentistry, Chulalongkorn University
Bangkok, Thailand
Tel: (66) 2218-8587
Fax: (66) 2218-8581
E-mail: somchaiomfs@gmail.com
Received Date: January 29, 2017; Accepted Date: February 08, 2017; Published Date: February 15, 2017
Citation: Sessirisombat S (2017) Carbon-dioxide Laser in the Treatment of Trigeminal Neuralgia: A Preliminary Study . J Interdiscipl Med Dent Sci 5: 208. doi:10.4172/2376-032X.1000208
Copyright: © 2017 Sessirisombat S. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Objective: This study was performed to evaluate the results of carbon dioxide laser in the treatment of trigeminal neuralgia (TN). Methods: Thirty six patients (11 men, 25 women) with refractory TN underwent peripheral nerve ablation with CO2 laser using low power defocused mode. Pain intensity was determined by numerical rating scales at preoperation, 1 week, 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, and 12 months post-operation. One way ANOVA was used to determine statistical significance. Results: There were significant differences in pain between pre-operation and 1 week, 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, and 12 months post-operation (pain score=9.38 ± 0.91, 3.15 ± 3.24, 1.00 ± 1.41, 0.63 ± 1.18, 0.75 ± 1.16 and 1.63 ± 1.99 respectively; p<0.05). Thirty four patients had some degree of prolonged paresthesia of the effected nerves, while two patients had no sensory alteration but the pain was relieved. Conclusions: Neural ablation with CO2 laser can be an alternative treatment for patients with TN who do not respond to the medical treatment or cannot tolerate the side effects of medication or do not want to have intracranial surgery. The only complication was prolonged paresthesia of the effected nerve. However, further study with a larger group of patients and longer observation period are recommended to evaluate the outcome of this treatment.
