The month of October brings a special focus on an often overlooked but incredibly challenging health issue: facial pain. The month is the perfect time to bring attention to the challenging condition of trigeminal neuralgia (TN).
TN is a chronic pain condition affecting the trigeminal nerve in the face. The trigeminal nerve carries sensation from the face to the brain. The condition is very rare and most common in women over age 50. Symptoms range from mild to severe facial pain, often triggered by chewing, speaking, or brushing the teeth.
Austin CyberKnife uses the state-of-the-art CyberKnife® system to treat TN. With CyberKnife, the center performs stereotactic radiosurgery, a nonsurgical method of treating certain types of tumors and conditions like TN with high-dose radiation beams delivered in five or fewer treatments. To treat a patient with TN, CyberKnife delivers very precise radiation beams to a targeted segment of the trigeminal nerve to interrupt pain-causing fibers. The pinpoint accuracy of the procedure spares healthy tissue and allows the physicians to treat difficult-to-reach targets without surgery or sedation.
TN treatment is typically a one-time, outpatient procedure and is completed within an hour. TN does not have a cure, but pain can be reduced or eliminated in about 85 to 90 percent of patients who are treated with stereotactic radiosurgery.
For more information on TN, or to schedule a consultation with our staff, please contact us today.