Trigeminal Neuralgia in Six Members of One Generation

A FAMILY history of trigeminal neuralgia is uncommon. It is, in fact, almost a clinical rarity. As Stookey1points out, if trigeminal neuralgia were an inherited disorder, its familial occurrence would be more frequently observed. There are, however, isolated reported cases of trigeminal neuralgia that would appear to be inherited.2-6In this paper an unusual familial incidence of trigeminal neuralgia is reported involving six out of seven members of one generation. Report of Cases Case1.—A 64-year-old white man was admitted to the Veterans Administration Hospital, Coral Gables, in 1952. He had his first attack of trigeminal neuralgia of the second division on the right side at age 32. In 1952, a retrogasserian neurectomy was done with good results; in 1961, he began having attacks on the opposite second division, which were finally relieved by peripheral neurectomy. Case2.—A brother of the patient in case 1, age 62,