OUR EXPERIENCE OF USING LIDOCAINE BLOCKADES WITH VITAMIN B12 IN PATIENTS WITH SEVERE FORMS OF TRIGEMINAL NEURALGIA

To estimate the efficacy of lidocaine blockades with vitamin B12 in patients with trigeminalneuralgia (TN) in both short- and long-term perspectives.The study analyzed the treatment of 43 patients with TN using peripheral nerve blocks:12 men (27.91 %) and 31 women (72.07 %); mean age ± sd — 62.60 ± 11.27 years; disease duration — 8.89 ± 7.73 years. The blocks were performed using a mixture of 4.0 ml of 2 % lidocainewith 500 µg of cyanocobalamin (vitamin B12) administered peri-paraneurally. Pain intensity wasassessed using the Visual Analog Scale (VAS) at various time points: from 30 minutes to threeyears after the blockades.Pain intensity at admission ranged from 5.5 to 10 (8.74 ± 1.06) cm on the VAS. Thirty minutesafter the block, it decreased to 2.5—4.5 (2.75 ± 0.65). Due to the return of pain, radical surgicalinterventions were performed in 38 patients. After 6—36 months, excellent and good resultswere achieved in 5 (11.63 %) patients.Lidocaine blockades with vitamin B12 (cyanocobalamin) proved their high short-term efficacy; however, long-term results are achieved in only 11.63 % of patients. Their use is advisableas part of the comprehensive treatment of TN patients.