Balloon compression vs radiofrequency for primary trigeminal neuralgia: a randomized, controlled trial

Hugo Sterman-Neto, Cristiane Yoko Fukuda, Kleber Paiva Duarte, Valquíria Aparecida da Silva, Antonia Lilian de Lima Rodrigues, Ricardo Galhardoni, Silvia R D T de Siqueira, José Tadeu Tesseroli de Siqueira, Manoel Jacobsen Teixeira, Daniel Ciampi de Andrade

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

28 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Surgical procedures are necessary in up to 50% of trigeminal neuralgia patients. Although radiofrequency (RF) is more widely used, it is associated with high intraprocedural costs and long technical learning time. Other simpler procedures such as balloon compression (BC) require a lower training period and have significant lower costs. We evaluated the effects of BC and RF in pain control in primary trigeminal neuralgia in a randomized, double-blinded, head-to-head trial. Individuals were randomly allocated in 1 of 2 groups: BC and RF. Throughout pain, psychological and quality of life measurements were performed at baseline and after surgery. The main outcome was the worst pain in the last 24 hours (0-10) at 6 months postoperatively. After the inclusion of half of the estimated sample, a preplanned interim analysis was performed when 33 patients (62.1 ± 9.4 y.) completed the study. Pain intensity (confidence interval [CI] 95% 0.6 to 3.8, and -0.6 to 2.2, for BC and RF) did not significantly differ. Complications, interference of pain in daily life (CI 95% -0.1 to 2.3 and -0.4 to 2.3, for BC and RF), neuropathic pain symptoms (CI 95% 1.7 to 3.6 and 3.0 to 5.7, for BC and RF), mood (CI 95% 4.8 to 11.5 and 5.5 to 15.1, BC and RF, respectively), medication use, and quality of life (CI 95% 80.4 to 93.1 and 83.9 to 94.2, for BC and RF) were also not different. Radiofrequency presented more paresthetic symptoms than BC at 30 days after intervention. Based on these results, the study was halted due to futility because BC was not superior to RF.

Original languageEnglish
JournalPain
Volume162
Issue number3
Pages (from-to)919-929
Number of pages11
ISSN0304-3959
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Mar 2021
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Copyright © 2020 International Association for the Study of Pain.

Keywords

  • Humans
  • Neuralgia
  • Pain Management
  • Quality of Life
  • Treatment Outcome
  • Trigeminal Neuralgia/therapy

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