[Treatment of typical trigeminus neuralgias. Overview of the current state of drug and surgical therapy].

Carbamazepine continues to be the most useful drug in the treatment of trigeminal neuralgia. Diphenylhydantoin may be given in addition to or instead of Carbamazepine. Refractory cases may benefit from combination with Baclofen or Chlorphenesin. In cases of persistent pain the concomitant use of tricyclic antidepressant drugs is recommended. If pain continues in spite of multiple medical therapies or if serious side effects develop, then surgical procedures such as percutaneous controlled thermocoagulation or microvascular decompression are indicated. Percutaneous thermocoagulation is associated with the lowest mortality and morbidity rate and can easily be repeated. Microvascular decompression should especially be offered to young patients, who want to avoid any sensory disturbance of the face, and recommended for other patients for whom all other forms of therapy including percutaneous thermocoagulation have failed.