ABSTRACT
Patients may experience a dull background pain in some long-standing cases. Typically, there is a refractory period after a painful paroxysm, during which the pain cannot be triggered. In rare cases, the pain can be triggered not from a trigger point in the trigeminal area, but by somatosensory stimulation outside of the trigeminal region, such as a limb or secondary to other sensory stimulation such as bright lights and noises, and strong tastes. Still, the proponents of the “neurovascular conflict” note an artery, most often a loop of the superior or anteroinferior cerebellar artery compresses part of the trigeminal nerve root. Like the glycerol retrogasserian ganglion injection, they work to block the pain of Trigeminal neuralgia by inducing a partial injury to the trigeminal ganglion. Both procedures may have recurrence rates of up to 25%. Anesthesia dolorosa can be found in between 1% and 10% of patients.
