A team of researchers from Sapienza University, coordinated by Giorgio Cruccu of the Department of Human Neuroscience, carried out a study which explores in detail all aspects of trigeminal neuralgia, from its clinical features to its pathophysiological mechanisms and the most innovative diagnostic and therapeutic strategies.

The scientific article has been published on the New England Journal of Medicine, which currently holds the highest international "Journal Impact Factor" (74,699) among scientific journals in all fields.

Trigeminal neuralgia is a chronic pain condition that is sometimes difficult to diagnose and treat, characterised by sudden, severe facial pain, like having an electric shock, extremely intense and triggered by common everyday gestures, such as washing your face, shaving, removing your make-up, eating, talking and the harmless tactile stimulation of specific trigger zones.

There is a classic form (caused by the pulsating contact of a cerebellar artery with the trigeminal root), a form secondary to multiple sclerosis or tumours of the posterior cranial fossa, and a so-called idiopathic form, as it has no apparent cause but probably genetic.

In deepening the mechanisms underlying the peculiar characteristics of pain in trigeminal neuralgia, the authors apply, for the first time, as shown in the picture, a new system of computerised reconstruction of the frequency distribution of trigger zones.