Hydrothermal destruction of the sensitive root of the trigeminal nerve

The concept of minimally invasive surgical treatment of trigeminal nerve neuralgia, developed by L.Ya. Livshits, allowed developing an original method of puncture surgical treatment of pain syndrome by directed hydrothermal destruction of the sensitive trigeminal root. The concept of “growing radicalism” created by Professor L.Ya. Livshits allowed his students elaborating algorithms for treating severe chronic pain syndromes of any localization and etiology. An important stage in the creative biography of L.Ya. Livshits began his work on a doctoral dissertation. The thesis was dedicated to the surgical treatment of resistant to drug treatment of forms of trigeminal neuralgia. Method - directional hydrothermal destruction of its sensitive root by inserting a needle into the meckel's cavity through the oval opening of the outer base of the skull. As a physical factor of destruction, boiling distilled water was used, which was introduced fractionally, the total volume was 1.5 ml, and the interval between the individual portions reached 3–5 minutes. In the process of the procedure, the trigeminal nerve was electrostimulated to evaluate the effectiveness of the manipulation.