Review Article Glossopharyngeal neuralgia: neurosurgical treatment and differential diagnosis

Summary The objective of this study was to review the literature on glossopharyngeal neuralgia and to discuss its differential diagnosis and treatment options. Despite the significant improvement of trigeminal neuralgia with pharmacological treatment, glossopharyngeal neuralgia has a higher incidence of treatment failure and neurosurgery is necessary for the majority of patients. Functional neurosurgery has a great rate of success for glossopharyngeal neuralgia, especially techniques such as percutaneous thermal rhizotomy, trigeminal tractotomy and=or nucleotomy. The main problem with glossopharyngeal neuralgia remains the diagnosis as it is a rare disease with similarities to trigeminal neuralgia, including the same pharmacological treatment. Facial pain specialists should be trained to achieve a better accuracy of diagnosis.