Lamotrigine; A new drug for the treatment of glossopharyngeal neuralgia?

A case report

Egemen Vardarlı, Safiye Bilgin, Zafer Çolakoğlu, Burhanettin Uludağ

Glossopharyngeal neuralgia is a rare disease characterised by intermittent, lancinating pain involving the posterior tongue, pharynx often with radiation to deep ear structures. In medical treatment carbamazepine alone or combined with fenitoin is effective for the disease. In patients refractory to medical treatment destructive procedures or microvascular decompression of the glossopharyngeal nerve may give good results. In this paper we present a case who was refractory to carbamazepine but profited by lamotrigine. A search of medical literature did not disclose study of lamotrigine effects of glossopharyngeal neuralgia.