• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.371-373
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• 1995

Percutaneous retrogasserian gangliolysis is suitable for treatment of trigeminal neuralgia because it is simple and effective. Further, it can avoid severe complications such as anesthesia dolorosa or dysesthesia that may develop after surgical procedure. However we have experienced an anesthesia dolorosa(pain in an area or region that is anesthetic) after percutaneous retrogasserian glycerol injection. This deafferentation pain is characterized by scratching, burning or itching sensation; and has shown to be of higher incidence in older and inemotionally unstable patients. Anesthesia dolorosa is relatively rare but difficult to treat. Consideration should be made for the complication which may develop during the procedure.

• Journal of Dental Anesthesia and Pain Medicine
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.241-245
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• 2015

A majority of patients who sustain injuries to the peripheral sensory nerves of the face and jaws experience a slow but gradual return of sensation that is functional and tolerable, if not the same as before the injuries. However, long-term effects of such injuries are aggravating for many patients, and a few patients experience significant suffering. In some of these patients, posttraumatic symptoms become pathological and are painful. The predominant painful components are (1) numbing anesthesia dolorosa pain, (2) triggered neuralgiaform pain, (3) burning and aching causalgiaform pain, and (4) phantom pain. This is a case report of conservative management of traumatic neuralgia and neuritis as part of posttraumatic pain syndromes in geriatric patients who have undergone the teeth extraction and alveoloplasty.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.30 no.sup1
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• pp.85-90
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• 2001

Objective : DREZotomy is effective for the treatment of deafferentation pain as a consequence of root avulsion, postparaplegic pain, posttraumatic syrinx, postherpetic neuralgia, spinal cord injury, and peripheral nerve injury. We performed microsurgical DREZotomy to the patients with deafferentation pain and relieved pain without any serious complication. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the usefulness of the microsurgical DREZotomy for deafferentation pain. Methods : We evaluated 4 patients with deafferntation pain who were intractable to medical therapy. Two of them were brachial plexus injury with root avulsion owing to trauma, one was axillary metastasis of the squamous cell carcinoma of the left forearm, and the last was anesthesia dolorosa after surgical treatment(MVD and rhizotomy) of trigeminal neuralgia. Preoperative evaluation was based on the neurologic examination, radiologic imaging, and electrophysiological study. In the case of anesthesia dolorosa, we produced two parallel lesions in cephalocaudal direction, 2mm in distance, from the C2 dorsal rootlet to the 5mm superior to the obex including nucleus caudalis, after suboccipital craniectomy and C1-2 laminectomy, with use of microelectrode. In the others, we confirmed lesion site with identification of the nerve root after hemilaminectomy. We performed arachnoid dissection along the posterolateral sulcus and made lesion with microsurgical knife and microelectrocoagulation, 2mm in depth, 2mm in distance, to the direction of 30-45 degrees in the medial portion of the Lissauer's tract and the most dorsal layers of the posterior horn at the one root level above and below the lesion. Results : Compared with preoperative state, microsurgical DREZotomy significantly diminished dosage of the drugs and relieved pain meaningfully. One patient showed tansient ipsilateral ataxia, but recovered soon. There was not any serious complication. Conclusion : It may be concluded that microsurgical DREZotomy is very useful and safe therapeutic modality for deafferentation pain, especially segmentally distributed intermittent or evoke pain. Complete preoperative evaluation and proper selection of the patients and lesion making device are needed to improve the result.

• Journal of The Korean Dental Society of Anesthesiology
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.108-115
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• 2009

Trauma to any nerve may lead to persistent paresthesia. Trauma to the nerve sheath can be produced by the needle. The patient frequently reports the sensation of an electric shock throughout the distribution of the nerve involved. It is difficult for the type of needle used in dental practice to actually sever a nerve trunk or even its fibers. Trauma to the nerve produced by contact with the needle is all that is needed to produce paresthesia. Hemorrhage into or around the neural sheath is another cause. Bleeding increases pressure on the nerve, leading to paresthesia. Injection of local anesthetic solutions contaminated by alcohol or sterilizing solution near a nerve produces irritation; the resulting edema increases pressure in the region of the nerve, leading to paresthesia. Persistent paresthesia can lead to injury to adjacent tissues. Biting or thermal or chemical insult can occur without a patient's awareness, until the process has progressed to a serious degree. Most paresthesias resolve in approximately 8 weeks without treatment. In most situations paresthesia is only minimal, with the patient retaining most sensory function to the affected area. In these cases there is only a very slight possibility of self injury. But, the patient complaints the discomfort symptoms of paresthesia, such as causalgia, neuralgiaform pain and anesthesia dolorosa. Most paresthesias involve the lingual nerve, with the inferior alveolar nerve a close second. This is the report of a case, that had the persistent paresthesia care on left lingual & buccal shelf regions after the lingual and long buccal nerve block anesthesia.

• The Journal of Korea Assosiation for Disability and Oral Health
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.9-16
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• 2015

Pain and sensory disorder resulting from injury to peripheral nerves of the face and jaws are a major source of patient dissatisfaction and suffering. The majority of patient who sustain injuries to the peripheral sensory nerves of the face and jaws experience a slow but orderly return of sensation that is functional and tolerable in quality, if not "normal". For many patients, however, the long-term effects are a source of aggravation, and for a few, a significant cause of suffering. Common complaints relate to reduced sensory information causing embarrassing food accumulations or drooling, biting a burning the lip or tongue, and difficulty in performing routine activities such as shaving and apply makeup. For some patients posttraumatic symptoms become pathological and frankly painful. The predominent pain components are (1) numbing anesthesia dolorosa pain, (2) triggered neuralgiaform pain, (3) burning, aching causalgiaform pain, and (4) phantom pain. This is a report of cases about posttraumatic pain syndrome associated with dental treatment in a psychologically disabled patient.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.186-189
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• 2008

Objective : We assessed the surgical results of percutaneous balloon compression in 50 patients with idiopathic trigeminal neuralgia. Methods : Fifty patients with follow-up period of more than 12 months were retrospectively analyzed. The mean follow-up period was 42 months (range, 12-82). The mean age was 65.8 years (range, 27-83). Seventeen patients (34%) had other previous surgical procedures. The balloon was inflated by injecting radio-contrast media under brief general anesthesia according to Mullan’s technique. The mean inflating time was 88 seconds (range, 60-120). The whole procedure took about 20 minutes. Results : We reported excellent and good results in 70% of the cases, poor in 6% as annoying dysesthesia, recurrence in 16%, and 8% failure due to technical deficiencies. Forty-six patients (92%) were initially relieved of their pain. There were permanent motor weakness of the masseter muscle in 4% of patients and transitory diplopia in 8%. Neither anesthesia dolorosa nor keratitis occurred. Almost all patients (92%) were discharged postoperatively within two days. Conclusion : These results indicate that balloon compression would be an effective method with acceptable morbidity, technically, It can be performed rapidly and simply in the treatment of idiopathic trigeminal neuralgia.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.137-141
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• 1991

Percutaneous retrogasserian glycerol rhizolysis(PRGR) was performed in 43 patients, a total of 65 times, for the management of typical trigeminal neuralgia from 1987 to 1991. The age of patients was distributed between 19 and 87 years. According to sex 17 were male and 26 were female. Pure glycerol of 0.3-0.8 ml was injected into the Meckel's cave on the affected site. In 31 PRGR(Group I) that had cisternography to titrate the dose of glycerol, when treated, 26 G of these PRGR patients(83.9%) had relief of pain. There were recurrence of pain in 7PRGR (22.6%) and the average interval from the PRGR to recurrence of pain in 7 PRGR(22.6%) and the average interval from the PRGR to recurrence of pain was 16.9 months. In 34 PRGR(Group II) of which bupivacaine was injected to titrate the dose of glycerol, 29 PRGR(85.3%) had relief of pain 80 howing treatment. There were recurrence of pain in 8 PRGR(23.5%) and the average interval from the PRGR to the recurrence of pain was 14.3 months. Finally of all procedures done(65 PRGR), 55 PRGR(84.6%) had relief of pain. There were recurrence of pain in 15 PRGR(23.1%) and the average interval from the PRGR to recurrence of pain was 15.5 months. There was no significant difference between the two groups in the rate of pain relief. There were conjunctival irritation(3 cases), headache(2), vomiting(3), hematoma(2), and herpes simplex(3) as transient complications after PRGR. Corneal ulceration and anesthesia dolorosa did not develop in any cases.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.167-170
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• 2009

Pharmacological management is the first choice for treatment of the trigeminal neuralgia patients; however, if this mode of treatment fails a minimally invasive procedure should be performed. One of the most commonly used procedures is conventional radiofrequency lesioning of the Gasserian ganglion. Despite its popularity and success rate, this technique has disadvantages such as diminished corneal reflex, masseter weakness, numbness and anesthesia dolorosa. As a result, many studies have been conducted in an attempt to find a better method of treating trigeminal neuralgia. We report here a case of a trigeminal neuralgia patient that was treated with pulsed radiofrequency lesioning of the supraorbital and supratrochlear nerve due to pain in the frontal head that was refractory to the pharmacological treatments. Following the procedure, the Visual Analogue Scale score for pain decreased to 1-2/10 and the pain relief persisted for 7 months. These results indicate that pulsed radiofrequency treatment of the peripheral nerve may be useful for trigeminal neuralgia patients that do not respond to pharmacological treatments.