Effects of Preoperative Carbamazepine Treatment on Microvascular Decompression for Classical Trigeminal Neuralgia

Abstract

Background: Carbamazepine (CBZ) is the first-line therapy for trigeminal neuralgia (TN), and microvascular decompression (MVD) is considered to be an effective surgical treatment for TN. However, the effect of preoperative CBZ treatment on MVD outcome is not clear.

Methods: From 2013 to 2019, 63 patients with classical TN underwent MVD at the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, China. Data were collected through telephone follow-up and electronic medical records in April 2020. Short-term surgical outcome and long-term follow-up data were estimated by univariate and multivariate analysis.

Results: Multivariate analysis indicated that preoperative CBZ treatment was not a significant predictor for short-term outcomes of MVD (P > 0.05). Multivariate analysis for the long-term outcome of MVD indicated that preoperative CBZ treatment could predict postoperative recurrence of TN (P < 0.05).

Conclusions: For patients with classical TN, a longer preoperative medication history of CBZ treatment had no significant effect on short-term outcome of MVD, but CBZ treatment was associated with a poor long-term outcome following MVD.

Keywords: Carbamazepine; Long-term follow-up; Microvascular decompression; Trigeminal neuralgia.