The Efficacy and Safety of Fluoroscopic-Guided Bipolar Versus Monopolar Pulsed Radiofrequency for Refractory Trigeminal Neuralgia: An Exploratory Study
A prospective exploratory study aiming at comparing pulsed bipolar versus pulsed unipolar radiofrequency ablation in patients with medically refractory trigeminal neuralgia.
• Patients with a definitive diagnosis of classical TN based on the third version of the International Classification of Headache Disorders (ICHD-3).
• Either purely paroxysmal classical TN or classical TN with concomitant chronic pain.
• Patients with idiopathic TN, with symptomatic clinical topography of V2 and/or V3.
• Patients with brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) unremarkable for structural etiology for the trigeminal pain.
• Patients with medically refractory TN defined as pain persisting beyond three months at a level of ≥5/10 after monotherapy or polytherapy in appropriate medical doses.