Keywords
chronic pain
neuralgia
radiofrequency
glossopharingeal
How to Cite
Abstract
Glossopharyngeal neuralgia is a rare entity with an incidence of less than one patient for every 100.000, affecting mostly adults older than 40 years old. The clinic presentation consists of lancinating pain localized in the posterior region of the pharynx; it may be associated to autonomic phenomenon because of the parasympathetic component of the glossopharyngeal nerve. The management of patients with glossopharyngeal neuralgia must be escalated from the initial medical treatment that consists mostly of antiepileptic drugs that have shown variable results. For those cases that show no improvement with medical therapy, surgical treatment must be considered which consists in micro-vascular decompression of the affected nerve; this treatment has shown good outcomes historically. Patients who are not candidates for surgical decompression, percutaneal treatment has shown to be a good alternative with good results in selected patients, even though it has been published that long term outcomes are not as good as those shown with microsurgery. Generally patients with glossopharyngeal neuralgia have good outcomes with proper treatment and selection of patients who undergo surgery.
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