The Journeys of Patients with Trigeminal Neuralgia on a Background of Multiple Sclerosis

Figures & data

Figure 1. Flow chart of patients from the original dataset who were followed up.

Table 1. Demographics and outcomes.

	n	Mean (SD)	Range
Age at 1 September 2020	20	69	55–92
Gender
Male	6
Female	14
First MS diagnosis
Relapsing-remitting	7
Primary progressive	6
Secondary progressive	2
Benign	3
Unknown	2
Duration of trigeminal neuralgia from first attack to first visit		7.65 years	0–21 years
Duration of trigeminal neuralgia from first attack to 2020		13.85 years	4–31 years
Duration of follow-up		6.53 years	2.62–12.51 years
Recorded patient appointments per patient		5.8	2–15
Remission(s) undergone	14
≥4 remissions experienced in course of follow-up	9
With drugs	8
With and/or without drugs	4
No drugs	2
Final recorded drug regime
Monotherapy	8
Polytherapy	8
Drug-free	4
Changes to medical therapy
No changes	4
Frequent changes (over ≥2 visits)	12
Medications withdrawn (average per patient)	48 (3)		0–6
Medications added (average per patient)	31 (1.9)		0–6
Final recorded pain status	20
In pain	8
Intermittent pain	7
No pain	5

SD: Standard deviation.

Figure 2. Comparing common drugs and their changes.

Table 2. Surgical procedures undergone by patients with trigeminal neuralgia and multiple sclerosis and their outcomes.

Procedure	n	Mean period of pain relief	Repeated (n)	Current drug status	Current pain status
Glycerol rhizotomy	7	16.6 months	3 repeat glycerol rhizotomies 1 RFT	4 on medication 3 off medication	3 pain free 4 improved pain
RFT	3	9 months in 1 patient	1 repeated	3 on medication	3 in pain But 1 numbness
Stereotactic radiosurgery	2		0 repeated	1 off medication 1 on medication	1 pain free but numbness 1 in pain
Microvascular decompression	1	Pain free 4–6 weeks	0 repeated	1 on medication	Improved pain

RFT: Radiofrequency thermocoagulation.

Table 3. Psychometric outcomes.

	n	Mean (SD)	Range
HAD-A: first, last visit	9	6.33 (3.39), 6.44 (5.05)
p-value of t-test		0.455
HAD-D: first visit, last visit	8	8.38 (5.97), 8.5 (6.46)
p-value of t-test		0.275
PCS	12	34.6	0–52
Global Impression Scores	20	2
p-value of t-test		<0.001

HAD: Hospital anxiety and depression; HAD-A: Hospital Anxiety and Depression – Anxiety score; HAD-D: Hospital Anxiety and Depression – Depression score; PCS: Pain catastrophizing scale.