There are a host of other over-lapping, rarer facial pain conditions that can be erroneously diagnosed as trigeminal neuralgia. By default, many of these syndromes may be treated by interventions developed for TN, but many of them also have specific differing treatments that often work. Thus, accurate diagnosis and differentiation is critical. Among others, these syndromes include:

    • Temporal arteritis
    • Occular Migraine
    • SUNA (Short-lasting unilateral neuralgiform headache attacks with cranial autonomic symptoms)
    • CRPS (Chronic Regional Pain Syndrome)
    • Herpetic/Post-herpetic Neuralgia
    • Burning Mouth Syndrome
    • Post-traumatic Trigeminal Neuroma
    • TMJ (temporal mandibular joint) Syndrome
    • Sinusitis
    • Atypical Odontalgia
    • Hemifacial Spasms
    • Raeder Syndrome
    • Tolosa-Hunt Syndrome
    • Trigeminal perineural spread of cancer
    • Acoustic and Trigeminal neuromas
    • Cerebral aneurysm
    • Meningioma
    • Hydrocephalus
    • Intracranial Hemorrhage
    • Subarachnoid Hemorrhage

 


Further Exploration:
Trigeminal Neuralgia Differential Diagnoses
Journal Articles:
J. M. Zakrzewska “Differential Diagnosis of Facial Pain and Guidelines for Management” British Journal of Anaesthesia 111 (1): (95–104) 2013.
http://bja.oxfordjournals.org/content/111/1/95.full.pdf
Kedarnath, N. S., and R. Shruthi. “MRI as an Essential Diagnostic Approach for Trigeminal Neuralgia.” Journal of Maxillofacial & Oral Surgery 14.Suppl 1 (462–464) 2015.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4379296/

 


Last updated 07/17