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OBJECTIVE: Percutaneous balloon compression (PBC) is a popular treatment option for trigeminal neuralgia. However, the efficacy of PBC is widely considered to be associated with the occurrence of sensitive complications, although neither this correlation nor the underlying mechanisms have been established. The objectives of the present study were to identify factors predicting time to pain recurrence after PBC and identify factors predicting a severe sensitive complication. METHODS: The authors conducted a retrospective study on patients who underwent PBC for the first time between 1985 and 2019 in two French hospitals. Data were retrieved from patients' medical records. Potential clinical and radiological predictors for time to pain recurrence and severe sensitive complication were evaluated using a Cox model and a logistic regression, respectively. RESULTS: A total of 131 patients were included in the study, with a median follow-up of 3.0 years. Pain recurrence occurred in 77 patients, and the median time to pain recurrence was 2.0 years. In the multivariate analysis, six independent factors predicting pain recurrence were identified: 1) longer duration of presurgical symptoms; 2) localization of the pain along the mandibular branch of the trigeminal nerve (V3); 3) atypical pain; 4) diagnosis of multiple sclerosis; 5) use of a medical device not specifically adapted for trigeminal neuralgia surgery; and 6) duration of balloon compression > 60 seconds. Regarding the secondary objective, 26 patients presented a severe sensitive complication after PBC, which the authors defined as the development of a new sensitivity disorder of the cornea, deafferentation pain known as anesthesia dolorosa, and/or long-lasting hypoesthesia augmentation characterized by the new appearance or increase in size or intensity of an area of hypoesthesia in the face for at least 3 months. The only predictor associated with a severe sensitive complication in the multivariate analysis was compression duration > 60 seconds. CONCLUSIONS: These results show that the risk of postoperative complications can be assessed at the patient level, the most important modifiable parameter being the time of compression by the balloon. Although this study shows the relevance of a personalized medicine approach, its clinical application remains to be validated.
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Glioblastoma patients often require chronic administration of steroids due to peri-tumoral edema. Preliminary studies showed that treatment with Angiotensin-II Receptor Blockers (ARBs) for high blood pressure might be associated with reduced peri-tumoral edema. In this study, we aim to radiologically assess the effect of ARBs on peri-tumoral edema. We conducted a cross-sectional survey on patients with newly diagnosed GBM. Patients treated with ARBs for high blood pressure were paired to non ARB-treated patients based on similar age, tumor location and tumor size. Patients taking steroids at the time of pre-operative Magnetic Resonance Imaging were excluded from the study. In each pair of patients, we compared the volumes of peri-tumoral hyper T2-Fluid Attenuated Inversion Recovery (FLAIR) signal and the Apparent Diffusion Coefficient (ADC) in the same area. Eleven (11) ARB-treated patients were selected and paired to 11 non ARB-treated controls. Volumes of peri-tumoral hyper T2-FLAIR signal were significantly lower in the ARB-treated group than in the non ARB-treated group (p = 0.02). Additionally, peri-tumoral ADCs were also significantly lower in the treated group (p = 0.02), suggesting that the peri-tumoral area in this group had less edematous features. These results suggest that ARBs may reduce the volume of peri-tumoral hyper T2-FLAIR signal by decreasing edema.