A 79-year-old female patient was placed with diagnosis of idiopathic trigeminal neuralgia. On oral carbamazepine and right mental nerve block with lidocaine and alcohol were given for about 8 years from July 1975, and as the result the pain was abolished. But in September 1983, the pain recurred, and subsequently eating became difficult. During the attack of the pain, right facial clonic muscle spasm was observed, and dysacousia was shown by audiogram. Intracranial tumor was suspected, and CT scanner disclosed the presence of tumor in the right cerebellopontile angle. In October, the tumor was removed at the Department of Cerebral Surgery of our University Hospitad and pathological examination gave the diagnosis of psammoma meningioma. After the operation, the pain disappeared, and now at 2 1/4 postoperative years, she shows favorable prognosis.
Since trigeminal neuralgia of unknown cause may sometimes be ascribable, like in the present case, to tumor near semilunar ganglion, it will be necessary to examine by CT scan and symptoms derived from the 7th and 8th cerebral nerves which are adjacent to trigeminal nerve.
