Gamma Knife Surgery for Trigeminal Neuralgia and Facial Pain

Abstract

The concept of using ionizing radiation for the treatment of facial pain is not new. Shortly following the discovery of ``X-rays'' by Wilhelm Konrad Roentgen, Hermann Moritz Gocht introduced in 1897 the use of radiation therapy for the relief of pain in a case of breast carcinoma [1]. Later that same year he successfully treated a patient with trigeminal neuralgia, in whom all previous treatments had been met with failure [2]. Complete remission of the neuralgic syndrome was observed 2 days following the intervention. He subsequently treated 20 patients, pain relief occurring in no less than 17 [3]. Author of a popular textbook of practical radiology that was re-edited a number of times [4], he died in 1938 at the age of 68, victim of the effects of unprotected exposure to ionizing radiation.