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Cranial Nerve Targets

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Essentials of Interventional Cancer Pain Management

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Abstract

Cancers of the head and neck account for less than 5% of cancers diagnosed in the United States each year, but they are among the cancers most likely to cause significant cancer-associated pain. Pain can affect a variety of anatomic locations and tissue types in the head and neck and be a result of direct tumor invasion, compression of nervous structures, and damage during surgical intervention or as a sequelae of radiation treatment. Multiple modalities exist for interventional treatment of head and neck pain, including local anesthetic nerve block, chemical neurolysis, thermal or pulsed radiofrequency ablation, cryoablation, and peripheral nerve stimulation. Common targets for intervention consist of cranial nerves such as the trigeminal ganglion, including its major divisions and terminal branches, the glossopharyngeal nerve and the vagus nerve. Other non-cranial nerve targets include the sphenopalatine ganglion, temporomandibular joint, greater and lesser occipital nerves and the cervical plexus.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Utah, Department of Anesthesiology, Salt Lake City, UT, USA

    Jill E. Sindt MD

Authors
  1. Jill E. Sindt MD
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Correspondence to Jill E. Sindt MD .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA

    Amitabh Gulati

  2. Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA

    Vinay Puttanniah

  3. Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA

    Brian M. Bruel

  4. Midwest Neuroscience Institute, Center for the Relief of Pain, Kansas City, MO, USA

    William S. Rosenberg

  5. Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA

    Joseph C. Hung

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Sindt, J.E. (2019). Cranial Nerve Targets. In: Gulati, A., Puttanniah, V., Bruel, B., Rosenberg, W., Hung, J. (eds) Essentials of Interventional Cancer Pain Management. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-99684-4_19

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-99684-4_19

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-99684-4

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