Familial trigeminal neuralgia

Case report and review of the literature

Ian G. FleetwoodDepartments of Neurosurgery, Neurology, and Neurological Sciences, and the Stanford Stroke Center, Stanford University, California; and Department of Medical Genetics, University of Calgary, Alberta Children's Hospital, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

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 M.D., F.R.C.S.(C)
,
A. Micheil InnesDepartments of Neurosurgery, Neurology, and Neurological Sciences, and the Stanford Stroke Center, Stanford University, California; and Department of Medical Genetics, University of Calgary, Alberta Children's Hospital, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

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 M.D., F.R.C.P.(C)
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Susan R. HansenDepartments of Neurosurgery, Neurology, and Neurological Sciences, and the Stanford Stroke Center, Stanford University, California; and Department of Medical Genetics, University of Calgary, Alberta Children's Hospital, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

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 M.D.
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Gary K. SteinbergDepartments of Neurosurgery, Neurology, and Neurological Sciences, and the Stanford Stroke Center, Stanford University, California; and Department of Medical Genetics, University of Calgary, Alberta Children's Hospital, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

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 M.D., Ph.D.
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Page Range:
513–517
Volume/Issue:
Volume 95: Issue 3
DOI link:
https://doi.org/10.3171/jns.2001.95.3.0513
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✓ The authors report the case of a 45-year-old woman with medically intractable trigeminal neuralgia (TN) in whom a good clinical response to partial sectioning of the trigeminal nerve was attained. No evidence of vascular compression was found intraoperatively. Several other members of her family, involving three generations, also suffered from TN. The treatment of all affected patients is discussed in the context of a literature review in which the controversies surrounding the origins of the disease and treatment options for patients with the familial variant of TN are addressed.

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Contributor Notes

Address reprint requests to: Gary K. Steinberg, M.D., Ph.D., Department of Neurosurgery, Room R281, Stanford University School of Medicine, 300 Pasteur Drive, Stanford, California 94305–5327. email: gsteinberg@stanford.edu.
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