Pain is a physiological reaction that aims to alert us to a potentially harmful process for our body. But in certain cases, pain becomes pathological, either due to the mechanism that causes it, vascular compression in the trigeminal neuralgia, or due to its disproportionate intensity.
In this chapter we will analyze different pathologies such as:
- Trigeminal neuralgia, glossopharyngeal neuralgia.
- Phantom limb pain.
- Pain due to spinal pathology.
Analyzing the different therapeutic options that we can offer our patients from the neurosurgeon’s point of view.
Until a few years ago, the procedures for the treatment of chronic pain were based on the injury of the responsible nerve, thus sections of the trigeminal nerve were made to treat their neuralgia. Later, the treatment was aimed at causing a selective lesion of the part of the nerve responsible for the painful sensation. This injury was produced by compression, by thermal or chemical mechanism. In recent years, stimulators have been implanted for the treatment of pain. The objective is to produce a stimulus that prevents the transmission of the painful sensation without damaging the affected nerve.
