Trigeminal neuralgia in multiple sclerosis

Hooge, John P. MD
Redekop, W. K. MPH

From the Division of Neurology (Dr. Hooge), Department of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada, and the Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics (W.K. Redekop), Academic Hospital, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. John P. Hooge, 702-1160 Burrard Street, Vancouver, BC V6Z 2E8 Canada.

Received October 6, 1994. Accepted in final form December 14, 1994.

Neurology 45(7):p 1294-1296, July 1995.

Article abstract

Trigeminal neuralgia (TN) occurred in 35 patients (1.9%) from a large multiple sclerosis (MS) clinic population (N = 1, 882). TN began on average 11.8 years after the first MS symptom but in five patients was the first symptom of MS, preceding the next MS symptom by 1 to 11 years. The onset of MS was later in the patients who had TN, and bilateral TN occurred more frequently than expected (in 14% of TN patients). The age at onset of TN was no younger than in idiopathic TN except when TN was the first MS symptom. Most patients had a good result from medical or surgical therapy.