[Treatment of atypical post-traumatic and postoperative facial neuralgias by chronic stimulation. Apropos of 2 cases, with review of the literature].

This article describes the case of two patients suffering from deafferentation pain after surgery or traumatic lesions in the area of the peripheric trigeminal branches on the Gasserian ganglion. Chronic electrical stimulation by an electrode implanted in the Gasserian ganglion led to a good permanent result in both cases, within a follow-up period of one year and one year and a half, respectively. The pre-operative test was carried out percutaneously via the foramen ovale, the definitive implantation by surgery with subtemporal access. This method can only be used when at least part of the ganglion cells of the Gasserian ganglion are intact. According to identical observations by other authors, it is mostly adequate for surgical and traumatic trigeminal lesions, whereas for pain due to herpes zoster, the stimulation of specific thalamus nuclei is a much better method.