Sixth Nerve Palsy Complicating Percutaneous Thermal Ablation of the Trigeminal Nerve Rootlet

Two patients, an 81-year-old man and a 77-year-old woman, developed sixth nerve palsies after radiofrequency trigeminal gangliolysis for trigeminal neuralgia. Both sixth nerve palsies resolved spontaneously within four to seven months. The combination of postoperative trigeminal nerve deficits and transient oculomotor nerve palsies can mimic parasellar mass lesions and lead to unnecessary neuroradiologic investigation in the early postoperative period.