We wrote recently about the CyberKnife and its ability to provide pinpoint treatment of tumors and lesions. Now, there's a new appliciation for the CyberKnife radiosurgery system. A small-but-promising study shows the system can also treat facial nerve pain successfully.

Trigeminal neuralgia (TN) is described as one of the most painful conditions known. Also called tic douloureux,  TN causes extreme, sporadic, sudden burning or shock-like face pain, often along one side of the jaw or cheek, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. The intensity of pain can be physically and mentally incapacitating. TN affects one in 15,000 people, and it seems to predominantly plague women over 50 years of age.

Using superimposed CT cisternogram and MR images, doctors were able to direct the CyberKnife to deliver a doze of radiation to a tiny (6mm) section of the trigeminal nerve.

The results, published by the Journal of NeuroInterventional Surgery, showed that 14 of 16 patients (88 percent) treated with the CyberKnife responded favorably with either partial or complete relief of symptoms. Eleven were free of all pain at some point in their post-treatment period, and seven patients were still pain free by the time the study was published five months later.

The study's conclusion: "Cyberknife radiosurgery is a viable treatment alternative in patients with TN with competitive efficacy demonstrated in our group of patients while minimizing adverse effects."