Kanchan, Ashok Kumar, Bushra Rehan, Imtiaz Ali Panhwar.
Absent Meckel`s Cave on MRI, in a Clinically Diagnosed Case of Trigeminal Neuralgia. a Very Rare Case Report.
Pak J Radiol Jan ;30(4):293-5.

Trigeminal neuralgia is a very painful condition in the sensory distribution of the trigeminal nerve and most common cause is compression of the cisternal segment of the trigeminal nerve by a vessel, usually an artery. However a number of additional pathologies may affect the trigeminal nerve anywhere along its course from origin to the most peripheral branches and may cause severe facial pain. We present a case of 35 year old female who came with complaints of pain and numbness on right side of the face of 3 week duration. Clinical diagnosis of trigeminal neuralgia was made. However MRI did not revealed any vascular compression except a tiny vessel was seen to be touching only the superior surface of right trigeminal nerve in its cisternal segment. Another MRI finding was absence of Meckel`s cave on right side which is also a rare cause of patient`s symptoms. To our knowledge very few cases of absent Meckel`s cave have been reported so for 1 .

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