Key clinical point : The incidence of trigeminal neuralgia (TN) is 15-fold higher in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) compared with the general neurological outpatient population.
Major finding : Concomitant diagnoses of MS and TN were verified in 55 patients, giving a prevalence of 2.1% for TN in patients with MS. Patients with MS had a significantly higher incidence of TN vs. general neurological outpatient population (149 vs. 9.9 per 100,000 person-years). A demyelinating lesion in the proximity of the trigeminal ganglia was observed in 26 (63%) of the 41 patients with a concomitant MS diagnosis and with magnetic resonance imaging scans available.
Study details : Single-center retrospective study included 2,575 patients with MS and 2,008 patients with a diagnosis of TN using data from the Finnish MS register.
Disclosures: The presenting author received fee for lecture from Merck; congress expenses from Roche, Merck. Funding for building the Finnish MS registry was received from Biogen Idec, Merck, Novartis, Sanofi-Genzyme, Roche, Teva, and Business Finland.
Citation: Laakso SM et al. Acta Neurol Scand. 2020 Mar 18. doi: 10.1111/ane.13243.