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Arthur Ecker, MD; Theodore Perl, MD
Syracuse, NY

JAMA. 1975;231(8):811.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

To the Editor.—

An article in MEDICAL NEWS (230:652, 1974) states: "Some patients [with trigeminal neuralgia] are helped by the injection of neurotoxic agents, such as alcohol, into the gasserian ganglion, but this is dangerous." In fact, by use of precise radiography, miniscule amounts of absolute alcohol, and careful sensory testing, we have so treated 309 consecutive patients with drug-resistant tic douloureux over a period of 20 years, without a death, permanent masticator muscle paralysis, or other permanent major complication. In the entire series, there were 12 cases (4%) of keratitis, and the lowest final visual acuity was 20/60, in a single case. We recently reported in detail the long-term efficacy of our method in a consecutive series of 42 patients, each of whom was followed up for eight to ten years. (NY State J Med 74:1586-1592, 1974). . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

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