MICROVASCULAR DECOMPRESSION IN GLOSSOPHARYNGEAL NEURALGIA

Glossopharyngeal neuralgia is a rare and often controversial cause for odynophagia and otalgia. The otolaryngologist, head and neck surgeon may be the primary physician called upon to diagnose and treat this en tity. In this study, vascular decompression, or more specifically, eli mination of contact between the ninth cranial nerve and the posterior inferior cerebellar artery, was employed as treatment in three patient s. All achieved relief of their symptoms with this intervention. A rev iew of the neurosurgical literature and the experience with vascular d ecompression in trigeminal neuralgia, hemifacial spasm, and glossophar yngeal neuralgia is presented. The authors conclude that vascular deco mpression is effective in carefully selected patients, and the role of the skull base surgeon in managing this problem is expanding.