Trigeminal neuralgia has recently been included among the various conditions in which benefit is claimed from large doses of parenterally administered vitamin B1. However, there has been no discussion of the possible mechanism of action of this substance, and none of the experiments to determine its therapeutic value for this condition appear to have been adequately controlled.
Trigeminal neuralgia is a disease the cause of which is unknown. Its pathogenesis is not clear, and no conclusive pathologic picture has been described. It is a disabling disease of middle and late adult life, characterized by attacks of momentary sharp flashes of pain over the distribution of one or more divisions of the fifth cranial nerve and by a chronic remitting course. As the disease progresses the attacks tend to become more severe and to last longer, and the remissions, which often vary remarkably in duration, tend to become shorter. Since