Efficacy of stereotactic gamma knife surgery and microvascular decompression in the treatment of primary trigeminal neuralgia: a retrospective study of 220 cases from a single center

A retrospective study was undertaken to compare the efficacy of stereotactic gamma knife surgery (GKS) and microvascular decompression (MVD) in the treatment of primary trigeminal neuralgia (TN) at a single center. The study included the evaluation of clinical outcomes of pain relief and pain recurrence and complications associated with GKS and MVD. The study included 202 patients with primary TN and was conducted between January 2013 and December 2014; about 115 patients were treated with GKS and 87 patients were treated with MVD. TN pain was evaluated using the Barrow Neurological Institute and the visual analog scale scoring systems. Preoperative magnetic resonance tomographic angiography was performed for all patients. Microscope-assisted MVD used the suboccipital retrosigmoid sinus approach. GKS targeted the trigeminal nerve root entry zone with a margin radiation dose of 59.5 Gy, and brainstem dose