Glossopharyngeal neuralgia and gabapentin treatment

Glossopharyngeal neuralgia causes intermittent, lancinating pain, involving the posterior tongue and pharynx, with radiation to deep ear structures. There are different pharmacological therapies which have tried to treat the neuralgia: carbamazepin, phenytoin, diazepam, amytriptyline, phenobarbital, ketamine and baclofen: there are also surgical treatment proposed in order to cure the neuralgia such as vascular decompression or electrical stimulation of the motor cortex controlateral to the pain area. We report a single case of a patient with glossopharyngeal neuralgia treated with gabapentin, which responded completely to the therapy and did not complain from side effects.