Toward an etiology-based management of trigeminal neuralgia

Despite its relative rarity, trigeminal neuralgia (TN) is well known by the medical community, not the least because of the location and stereotypic presentation of the pain. As first described in detail over 200 years ago [1], the key features difficult to miss are short-lived pain intense paroxysms, set off by innocuous mechanical stimuli, their abrupt onset and cessation, and the presence of trigger zones within the central mask [2]. Among chronic pain conditions, TN stands out as one of the very few whose treatment outcome is measured by the proportion of patients in complete or nearly complete remission. Moreover,...