Persistent idiopathic facial pain – a prospective systematic study of clinical characteristics and neuroanatomical findings at 3.0 Tesla MRI

Abstract

Introduction Persistent idiopathic facial pain (PIFP) is a poorly understood chronic orofacial pain disorder and a differential diagnosis to trigeminal neuralgia. To address the lack of systematic studies in PIFP we here report clinical characteristics and neuroimaging findings in PIFP. Methods Data collection was prospective and standardized in consecutive PIFP patients. All patients underwent 3.0 MRI. Results In a cohort of 53 PIFP patients, the average age of onset was 44.1 years. PIFP was found in more women 40 (75%) than men 13 (25%), p < 0.001. There was a high prevalence of bilateral pain 7 (13%), hypoesthesia 23 (48%), depression 16 (30%) and other chronic pain conditions 17 (32%) and a low prevalence of stabbing pain 21 (40%), touch-evoked pain 14 (26%) and remission periods 10 (19%). The odds ratio between neurovascular contact and the painful side was 1.4 (95% Cl 0.4–4.4, p = 0.565) and the odds ratio between neurovascular contact with displacement of the trigeminal nerve and the painful side was 0.2 (95% Cl 0.0–2.1, p = 0.195). Conclusion PIFP is separated from trigeminal neuralgia both with respect to the clinical characteristics and neuroimaging findings, as NVC was not associated to PIFP.