Glossopharyngeal Neuralgia - A case report / 대한마취과학회지

ABSTRACT

Glossopharyngeal neuralgia, first discribed by Labat in 1928, is a very rare disease of unknown cause. This neuralgia is associated with a characteristic sharp pain of the posterior pharynx, tonsils and larynx, and especially triggered by swallowing action. It is said that this pain is more severe than that of trigerminal neuralgia and the pain may last several up to 30 minutes and the attack repeats intermittently. Diagnosis of glosspharyngeal neuralgia is made by the symptoms and by the elongation of the right side of the styloid process in this case. The glossopharyngeal nerve block by the deposition of local anesthetic solution is useful in the accurate diagnosis of the douleureux or neuralgia in which this nerve is involved and in providing anesthesia for operative intervention upon the posterior third of the tongue. This is a report of a case of glossopharyngeal neuralgia, which did not respond to Tegretol and other analgesic drugs and treated by glossopharyngeal nerve block with 0.5% bupivacaine l.5-2.0 ml. The block was performed every day for 15 days and the neuralgia disappeared without complication.