Fully endoscopic far-lateral supracerebellar infratentorial approach for trigeminal neuralgia: illustrative case reports.

BACKGROUND

Trigeminal neuralgia (TN) is a common cause of craniofacial pain. The retrosigmoid approach is usually used to treat TN, but no cases of endoscopic far-lateral supracerebellar infratentorial approach (EF-SCITA) were used to undergo operation for TN.

CASE PRESENTATION: Two patients were presented with severe facial pain and preliminary diagnosis was TN. Preoperative magnetic resonance imaging revealed that a superior cerebellar artery (SCA) compressed the trigeminal nerve in case 1, and a tumor located in the petrous apex extending into the Meckel's cave compressed the trigeminal nerve in case 2. Operations were achieved through the EF-SCITA. The pain was totally relieved with no postsurgical complications in both cases.

CONCLUSIONS

We present the first two case reports of EF-SCITA to relieve classical and secondary TN successfully. The EF-SCITA can be a promising approach for treating TN.