• Jose Luis De Córdoba, Marcel García Bach, Núria Isach, and Salvador Piles.
• From the *Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, Hospital de Mollet, Corporació Sanitària de Mollet, Mollet del Vallès, Barcelona, Spain; †Department of Neurosurgery, Mútua de Terrassa University Medical Center, Terrassa, Barcelona, Spain; and ‡Neurological Services, Hospital de Mollet, Corporació Sanitària de Mollet, Mollet del Vallès, Barcelona, Spain.
• Reg Anesth Pain Med. 2015 Sep 1; 40 (5): 616-22.

AbstractTrigeminal neuralgia attacks are among the most painful conditions known. Trigeminal neuralgias are hypothesized to be caused by neurovascular conflict at the trigeminal root entry zone in the prepontine cistern. A range of therapeutic options is available including open surgical microvascular decompression and several percutaneous ablative techniques (eg, radiofrequency rhizotomy and glycerol gangliolysis). Percutaneous balloon compression of the Gasserian retroganglionic rootlets has been reported to have results comparable to those of other minimally invasive techniques. This operative approach has proven popular with neurosurgeons as it is considered to be technically easier to perform than other methods. Nevertheless, pain physicians might regard this technique as challenging, relatively risky, and requiring special expertise. Accordingly, in this imaging article, we describe our percutaneous balloon compression procedure, paying particular attention to the technical and radiological details.

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