Abstract / Summary
Abstract Objective : To investigate the impact of age on postoperative pain outcomes following microvascular decompression (MVD) for trigeminal neuralgia (TN). Methods : We retrospectively analyzed 135 patients with classic TN who underwent MVD at our hospital between January 2020 and December 2024. Patients were divided into two groups for analysis: those older than 60 years (>60 years group) and those aged 60 years or younger (≤60 years group). Results : There were 85 patients aged 60 years or younger and 50 patients older than 60 years. The mean follow-up period was 35 months. When patients were divided into good pain control ( BNI I–II) and poor pain control (BNI III–V) groups, 82.3% of the older patient group had good pain control at most recent follow-up, while 56.3% of the younger patient group had good pain control at most recent follow-up (P = 0.040). Univariate regression analysis revealed that age, preoperative drug responsiveness, and intraoperative arterial compression were significantly associated with good pain control; multivariate regression analysis showed that age and intraoperative arterial compression were significantly correlated with good pain control. Conclusion : For some patients with TN over 60 years old, MVD may achieve good pain prognosis.