Successful Treatment of a Resistance Trigeminal Neuralgia Patient By Acupuncture

Trigeminal neuralgia (TN) is a neuropathic pain syndrome characterized by severe unilateral paroxysmal facial pain. Pain attacks are usually stimulated by tactile irritation within the region of the trigeminal nerve. TN pain typically remits and relapses, even when patients are on conventionally used treatments, resulting in a major source of disability and poor quality of life. Various drugs, such as carbamazepine, oxcarbazepine, phenytoin, gabapentin and baclofen, have been used to treat TN. Additionally, several minimally invasive approaches, such as trigeminal nerve block at the level of the sphenopalatine ganglion, microvascular decompression, radiofrequency rhizotomy and botulinum toxin injection, have been performed for the relief of pain. However, none of these methods are free of complications. The most common adverse effects after minimal invasive approaches are paresthesia, facial sensory loss, weakness or paralysis of masseter muscles and, rarely, loss of the corneal reflex. Herein, we report a female patient with TN who was intractable to previous treatment with carbamazepine, trigeminal nerve block and radiofrequency rhizotomy and was treated successfully by acupuncture.