Review on the causes of trigeminal neuralgia symptomatic to other diseases

Trigeminal neuralgia, also called tic douloureux, causes extreme, sporadic, sudden burning or shock-like face pain that lasts from few seconds to several minutes and can be physically and mentally incapacitating. Most cases are still referred to as idiopathic, although many are associated with vascular compression of the trigeminal nerve. A minority of cases are symptomatic to other diseases. The aim of this review is to show rare causes of trigeminal neuralgia described so far in the medical literature.