CT Cisternography for Evaluation of Trigeminal Neuralgia when MRI is contraindicated: Case Report

Trigeminal neuralgia (TGN) causes severe unilateral facial pain. The etiology is hypothesized to be segmental demyelination of the trigeminal nerve root via compression by the superior cerebellar artery (SCA). Microvascular decompression (MVD) allows immediate and long-term pain relief. Preoperative evaluation includes MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) and/or MRA (magnetic resonance angiography) of the brain. Having a pacemaker is a contraindication for MRI. There have been isolated reports of using computed tomography (CT) cisternography scans for radiation planning for TGN.

Source: World Neurosurgery - February 21, 2018 Category: Neurosurgery Authors: Vadim Gospodarev, Vikram Chakravarthy, Casey Harms, Hannah Myers, Brett Kaplan, Esther Kim, Matthew Pond, Kenneth De Los Reyes Tags: Original article Source Type: research