Efficacy and safety of percutaneous balloon compression for bilateral trigeminal neuralgia: a retrospective study

Percutaneous balloon compression (PBC) of the Gasserian ganglion is steadily gaining traction within the trigeminal neuralgia (TN) community. Bilateral trigeminal neuralgia (BTN) is a rare condition, and its treatment remains challenging. As far as we know, there are currently no research reports on the treatment outcomes of PBC for BTN.The purpose of this study is to meticulously evaluate the efficacy and safety of PBC for BTN in our medical institution. In this retrospective study, we collected and analyzed the medical records of all patients with BTN who underwent the PBC procedure at the Department of Neurosurgery at Hebei General Hospital from July 2017 to July 2023. After undergoing PBC therapy, all patients were promptly assessed for treatment efficacy based on the modified Barrow Neurological Institute (BNI) pain intensity grading scale. All 37 patients with BTN experienced significant pain relief (BNI I-IIIb) immediately following unilateral PBC treatment. Among these patients, 25 reported relief from pain on the non-operative side, which was effectively managed with medication. Out of the 12 patients who did not experience improvement in contralateral symptoms, 11 received contralateral PBC. Out of the 48 treated sides, 47 sides (97.9