Table 4.
Comparison studies.
| Author, surgery type (year) | GKRS max dose (Gy) | Study endpoints | Surgery | GKRS | P value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Initial actuarial pain-free rate | 100% | 78% | 0.0002* | ||
| Linskey et al. [2], MVD (2008) | 80–90 | 2-y actuarial pain-free rate | 88% | 50% | |
| 5-y actuarial pain-free rate | 80% | 33% | |||
|
| |||||
| 12-mo complete pain relief rate | 68% | 58% | 0.089* | ||
| Brisman [40], MVD (2007) | 75 | 18-mo complete pain relief rate | 68% | 24% | |
| Patients requiring retreatment | 4.2% | 18% | NS | ||
|
| |||||
| BNI Grade I-II classification | 63% | 56% | NR | ||
| Oh et al. [41], MVD (2008) | Mean: 77.8 | Patients with pain recurrence | 11.1% | 11.1% | NR |
|
| |||||
| TN complexity grade | 3 | 5.8 | <0.001 | ||
| Aryan et al. [42], MVD (2006) | 90 | Average response following treatment | 3.4 | 2.4 | 0.017 |
| Patient satisfaction | 8.7 | 6.4 | 0.02 | ||
|
| |||||
| Pollock and Schoeberl [43], PFE (2010) | Median: 85 | 1-y pain-free rate | 84% | 66% | 0.003* |
| 4-y pain-free rate | 77% | 56% | |||
| Retreatment rate | 15% | 35% | 0.009 | ||
|
| |||||
| Pollock and Stein** [44], PFE (2010) | Median: 76.1 | Patients treated with additional surgery | 22% | 48% | 0.02 |
BNI: Barrow Neurological Institute; GKRS: Gamma Knife radiosurgery; MVD: microvascular decompression; NR: not reported; NS: nonsignificant; PFE: posterior fossa exploration; TN = trigeminal neuralgia.
*P value indicates overall pain-free levels.
**Data includes patients treated with ≥3 prior operations.