Beaumont study: Gamma Knife helps patients with painful facial nerve disorder

Research results published in the Clinical Neurology and Neurosurgery journal

2014-02-26

(Press-News.org) Research by Beaumont Health System radiation oncologists and neurosurgeons found that symptoms of trigeminal neuralgia, or TN, a nerve disorder causing severe facial pain, were reduced in those treated with Gamma Knife stereotactic radiosurgery. The results were published in the February issue of the journal Clinical Neurology and Neurosurgery.

TN is a disorder of the trigeminal nerve, which is responsible for feeling in the face. In most cases, the facial pain is caused by a blood vessel pressing on the nerve. It is believed that TN is caused by deterioration of the protective covering of the trigeminal nerve.

"The Gamma Knife is not actually a knife," says Inga Grills, M.D., radiation oncologist, Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak and associate professor, Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine. "Gamma Knife stereotactic radiosurgery is a nonsurgical technique that precisely delivers a high dose of radiation to a targeted area. It sends more than 200 beams of gamma radiation, while the low intensity of the individual beams avoids causing damage to the surrounding tissues."

Principal investigator Dr. Grills and a team of Beaumont researchers analyzed data of 149 patients who were treated with Gamma Knife Stereotactic Radiosurgery, or GK SRS. Following the treatment, patients were evaluated at about two weeks, then every three to six months. Patients reported if they experienced normal, decreased or no facial pain. Researchers concluded GK SRS provides acceptable relief for those with TN, especially those who are not suitable or have failed medical or surgical treatments.

"This study demonstrates patients with severe facial pain caused by trigeminal neuralgia will experience less discomfort after Gamma Knife Stereotactic Radiosurgery. They can resume daily activities such as brushing their teeth, washing their face and even smiling, without the unbearable sensation that is often caused by this condition," explains Dr. Grills.

Approximately 150,000 people are diagnosed with TN every year, according to the American Association of Neurological Surgeons. Women over the age of 50 are among those who are most commonly diagnosed. Those at risk are people with high-blood pressure or with multiple sclerosis.

INFORMATION: END

[Attachments] See images for this press release:

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Reproductive coercion, intimate partner violence prevalent

2014-02-26

Enough women experience reproductive coercion – male behavior to control contraception and pregnancy outcomes – that a research team now recommends health care providers address the subjects with their patients and tailor family planning discussions and recommendations accordingly. Researchers from Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island were part of a team that published "Reproductive coercion and co-occurring intimate partner violence in obstetrics and gynecology patients" in a recent issue of the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. "Reproductive coercion, ...

Artificial muscles that do the twist

2014-02-26

In the heart, as in the movies, 3D action beats the 2D experience hands down. In 3D, healthy hearts do their own version of the twist. Rather than a simple pumping action, they circulate blood as if they were wringing a towel. The bottom of the heart twists as it contracts in a counterclockwise direction while the top twists clockwise. Scientists call this the left ventricular twist—and it can be used as an indicator of heart health. The heart is not alone. The human body is replete with examples of soft muscular systems that bend, twist, extend, and flex in complex ...

Superabsorbing design may lower manufacturing cost of thin film solar cells

2014-02-26

Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed a "superabsorbing" design that may significantly improve the light absorption efficiency of thin film solar cells and drive down manufacturing costs. The superabsorbing design could decrease the thickness of the semiconductor materials used in thin film solar cells by more than one order of magnitude without compromising the capability of solar light absorption. "State-of-the-art thin film solar cells require an amorphous silicon layer that is about 100 nanometers (nm) thick to capture the majority of the ...

A cavity that you want

2014-02-26

BUFFALO, N.Y. – Associated with unhappy visits to the dentist, "cavity" means something else in the branch of physics known as optics. Put simply, an optical cavity is an arrangement of mirrors that allows beams of light to circulate in closed paths. These cavities help us build things like lasers and optical fibers used for communications. Now, an international research team pushed the concept further by developing an optical "nanocavity" that boosts the amount of light that ultrathin semiconductors absorb. The advancement could lead to, among other things, more powerful ...

Thirty-nine new species of endemic cockroach discovered in the southwestern US and Mexico

2014-02-26

A genus of cockroach in the poorly studied family Corydiidae has been revised for the first time since 1920. The revision has resulted in the discovery and description of 39 new species of Arenivaga, a genus which previously held nine species. The Corydiidae family of roaches is found worldwide and its constituents are frequently found in harsh, dry habitats not usually associated with cockroaches. They are also often subterranean in their habits making their presence easily overlooked. The study was completed over a four-year period by Heidi Hopkins, who is a cockroach ...

Personalized medicine has finally arrived -- or has it?

2014-02-26

As the price for decoding a person's DNA keeps dropping, expectations for personalized medicine based on specific genetic profiling rise. But translating an individual's genetic data into finely tailored medical treatments still faces major challenges, explains a new article in Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), the weekly magazine of the American Chemical Society. Rick Mullin, senior editor at C&EN, notes that advances in DNA sequencing have allowed researchers to design some therapies, particularly in the cancer realm, for patients with certain genetic traits. As the ...

Decline of Bronze Age 'megacities' linked to climate change

2014-02-26

Scientists from the University of Cambridge have demonstrated that an abrupt weakening of the summer monsoon affected northwest India 4,100 years ago. The resulting drought coincided with the beginning of the decline of the metropolis-building Indus Civilisation, which spanned present-day Pakistan and India, suggesting that climate change could be why many of the major cities of the civilisation were abandoned. The research, reported online on 25 February, 2014, in the journal Geology, involved the collection of snail shells preserved in the sediments of an ancient lake ...

3D microgels 'on-demand' offer new potential for cell research

2014-02-26

Stars, diamonds, circles. Rather than your average bowl of Lucky Charms, these are three-dimensional cell cultures generated by an exciting new digital microfluidics platform, the results of which have been published in Nature Communications this week by researchers at the University of Toronto. The tool, which can be used to study cells in cost-efficient, three-dimensional microgels, may hold the key to personalized medicine applications in the future. "We already know that the microenvironment can greatly influence cell fate," says Irwin A. Eydelnant, recent doctoral ...

Keck Medicine of USC scientists uncover 2 micro mechanisms that regulate immune system

2014-02-26

A Keck Medicine of USC-led team of microbiologists has identified previously unknown interactions between critical proteins in the human immune response system, uncovering two independent regulatory mechanisms that keep the body's immune response in check. Their findings appear in the February 2014 edition of Cell Host & Microbe, the top peer-reviewed scientific journal that focuses on the study of cell-pathogen interaction. "The body's response to infection consists of a complex network of biological processes set off by the intrusion of disease-causing microbes," said ...

Study: Mailing free tests to patients' homes boosts colon cancer screening rates

2014-02-26

PORTLAND, Ore. February 26, 2014 -- Colon cancer screening rates increased by nearly 40 percent when free stool tests were mailed to patients' homes, according to results of a pilot study published today in the journal BMC Cancer. The study, funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), included 869 patients who received their health care from community health centers in the Portland, Ore. metropolitan area. The clinics serve many Latino patients who live below the poverty level. About half of them have no health insurance. "We are very happy that so many of the ...

Crystal L. Mackall, MD, FAACR, recognized with the 2025 AACR-Cancer Research Institute Lloyd J. Old Award in Cancer Immunology

A novel strategy for detecting trace-level nanoplastics in aquatic environments: Multi-feature machine learning-enhanced SERS quantification leveraging the coffee ring effect

Beaumont study: Gamma Knife helps patients with painful facial nerve disorder

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES: