Efficacy and Safety of Percutaneous Ozone Injection Around Gasserian Ganglion for the Treatment of Trigeminal Neuralgia: A Multicenter Retrospective Study

• Published in: Journal of pain research Vol. 13; pp. 927 - 936
• Main Authors: Gao, Lei, Chen, Ruo-Wen, Williams, John P, Li, Tong, Han, Wei-Jiang, Zhao, Qian-Nan, Wang, Yong, An, Jian-Xiong
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New Zealand Dove Medical Press Limited 01.01.2020; Taylor & Francis Ltd; Dove; Dove Medical Press
• Subjects: Age; Air pollution; Analysis; Aviation; Care and treatment; Disease; Ganglion cysts; gasserian ganglion; Glycerol; Medical records; Medical research; Original Research; ozone therapy; Pain; Pain management; Patients; Regression analysis; Studies; Trigeminal neuralgia; trigeminal post-herpetic neuralgia; China; United States > US; ozone therapy; trigeminal post-herpetic neuralgia; Gasserian ganglion; trigeminal neuralgia
• DOI: 10.2147/JPR.S232081
• ISSN: 1178-7090

Ozone injection around Gasserian ganglion (OIAGG) has been reported to be an effective treatment for trigeminal neuralgia (TN); however, there remain areas for improvement. To overcome one of these limitations, a multicenter examination of application would be extremely helpful. The goal of this report was to assess the efficacy of OIAGG for refractory TN across multiple centers and to explore factors predictive of successful treatment. A multicenter, retrospective study. The study was conducted across 3 pain centers across China. A total of 103 subjects from 3 pain centers were enrolled in the study. An ozone-oxygen mixture gas at a concentration of 30 µg/mL was injected into the area around the Gasserian ganglion performed under C-arm X-ray guidance. Primary outcome measures included a pain assessment using a visual analog scale (VAS) and the Barrow Neurological Institute (BNI) pain intensity scale. Clinical assessment of patients for these outcome measures was performed at pretreatment, post-treatment, 6 months, 1 year and 2 years after the OIAGG. Successful pain relief was defined as a score within BNI grades I-IIIa. The pain relief rates at post-treatment, 6 months, 1 year and 2 years after the procedure were 88.35%, 86.87%, 84.46% and 83.30%, respectively. The VAS at each observation time point was significantly different from the preoperative levels (P<0.05). Logistic regression analysis showed that previous nerve damage had a significant effect on the treatment results. No significant complications or side effects were found during or after treatment. This multicenter research confirms our previous single center results that OIAGG is both effective and safe for patients with TN.