Clinical analysis and surgical treatment of trigeminal neuralgia caused by vertebrobasilar dolichoectasia: A retrospective study.
BACKGROUND
Trigeminal neuralgia (TN) caused by vertebrobasilar dolichoectasia (VBD) is rare and needs further exploration. The purpose of this study is to investigate the clinical features and surgical treatment of TN caused by VBD.


METHODS
15 patients with TN caused by VBD were included in our study. The patient data regarding clinical characteristics, neuroimaging presentations, intraoperative findings and treatment outcomes were analyzed retrospectively. Moreover, the previous relevant literature was reviewed simultaneously. Simple MVD was performed in 13 cases and MVD plus trigeminal nerve selective partial posterior rhizotomy (SPPR) was conducted in 2 patients.


RESULTS
Of all patients, 7 cases were female and 8 were male. The average age at operation was 60.8 years old (range, 35yrs-75yrs). 13 patients suffered from hypertension and 7 had a history of stoke. The extended and ectatic vetebrobasilar artery (VBA) was preliminarily identified in preoperative imaging presentations and finally confirmed during surgical procedure. The facial neuralgia disappeared immediately after surgery in all patients. All patients were relieved of pain (BNI score I) with an average of 29.8 months follow-up.


CONCLUSIONS
Our results suggest that simple MVD is effective for TN caused by VBD. MVD plus SPPR can be cautiously performed if patient has advanced age and is susceptible to numbness.
['Sun|Shoujia|S|', 'Jiang|Wei|W|', 'Wang|Junwen|J|', 'Gao|Pan|P|', 'Zhang|Xiaojing|X|', 'Jiao|Liwu|L|', 'Liu|Weihua|W|', 'Shu|Kai|K|', 'Lei|Ting|T|']
D000328:Adult D000368:Aged D005260:Female D006801:Humans D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging D008297:Male D061145:Microvascular Decompression Surgery D008875:Middle Aged D012189:Retrospective Studies D019051:Rhizotomy D016896:Treatment Outcome D014276:Trigeminal Nerve D014277:Trigeminal Neuralgia D014715:Vertebrobasilar Insufficiency
Trigeminal neuralgia Vertebrobasilar dolichoectasia Microvascular decompression