Trigeminal Neuralgia
Research
Understanding TN. Improving diagnosis and treatment. Changing what comes next.
This page brings together current trigeminal neuralgia research, clinical trials and emerging evidence, with clear explanations of what developments may mean for people living with TN.
Why does TN develop? Why does it behave differently from one person to another? Why do treatments work well for some people and less well for others? Why can pain return after treatment? Can diagnosis become faster and more accurate? Can we predict which treatment is most likely to help?
And can research eventually take us beyond controlling attacks towards preventing trigeminal neuralgia or stopping it permanently?
We have supported people affected by trigeminal neuralgia since 1999. Today our community includes people living with TN, families and carers, members and Friends, volunteers, researchers and healthcare professionals. We use that experience to help research address the questions that matter.
Our ambition is straightforward: better understanding, earlier recognition, better treatment and a future with far less TN pain. For patient involvement, partnerships and TNA UK’s research contribution, including patient advocacy and research participation led by CEO Aneeta Prem MBE, see Research & Patient Voice.
1999
Supporting people affected by TN since 1999
365
Helpline and e-helpline support throughout the year
UK-wide
Regional Support Groups and Friendship Line
400+
Expressions of interest through previous research engagement
567
Consenting respondents in the published 2024-25 Patient Experience Survey
Our research ambition
We want research to improve life for people living with TN now while tackling the bigger questions that could change its future.
Understand
We need a deeper understanding of why trigeminal neuralgia develops and what happens within the trigeminal nerve and wider pain system. That includes nerve function, neurovascular compression, pain signalling, imaging, different forms of TN, progression and recurrence. Better treatment begins with better understanding.
Recognise
TN needs to be recognised earlier and diagnosed accurately. Research can help distinguish trigeminal neuralgia from dental pain and other facial pain conditions, improve diagnostic pathways, strengthen the use and interpretation of imaging and help people reach appropriate specialist care sooner.
Improve
People need treatments that work, remain effective and are easier to live with. Research must continue into medicines, treatment for acute TN attacks, microvascular decompression, stereotactic radiosurgery, percutaneous procedures and new therapeutic approaches. We also need better evidence about which treatment is most likely to help which patient, and why.
Change the future
Managing TN better matters. It should not be the limit of our ambition. We want research that can improve prediction, reduce recurrence, identify new treatment targets and ultimately move towards preventing trigeminal neuralgia or stopping it permanently. A future without TN pain has to remain the goal.
What we contribute to research
We do more than report studies carried out elsewhere. We gather patient evidence, help people engage with research, explain new findings and bring the experience of people living with TN into conversations about what should be studied next.
Patient evidence
Our surveys turn patient-reported experience into structured evidence about diagnosis, treatment, daily life, access to care and unmet need. Patient evidence does not replace clinical research. It helps identify the problems and unanswered questions that research needs to investigate.
Patient involvement
People affected by TN can help shape research before a study begins. They can help researchers decide whether the question matters, whether study information makes sense, whether participation is realistic and whether the outcomes being measured reflect what matters in everyday life.
Research participation
We help our community understand properly governed research opportunities and know where to find authoritative study information. Previous engagement around the Libra programme generated more than 400 expressions of interest and more than 320 attendees at the related patient webinar.
Research explained
New studies can be difficult to understand and easy to overstate. We publish plain-English analysis that explains what was studied, what researchers found, how strong the evidence is, what remains uncertain and whether the findings change care now.
Diagnosis and dentistry
The boundary between dental pain and neurological facial pain is one of the recurring issues raised by people affected by TN. Our work brings together patient experience, clinical guidance and new evidence to improve recognition and encourage better communication between dentistry and medicine.
Research partnerships
We welcome credible researchers, clinicians, universities, NHS organisations, funders and life-sciences partners who want to involve people affected by TN properly and improve the evidence available to patients and professionals.
Why work with our community?
Research needs good science. It also needs people.
Our relationship with the TN community does not begin when a clinical trial needs participants.
Our helpline and e-helpline are supported seven days a week, 52 weeks a year, alongside Regional Support Groups and our Friendship Line. Our members, Friends, patients, families, carers and volunteers engage with us throughout the TN journey.
People contact us when they are trying to understand their symptoms, after diagnosis, when medication becomes difficult, while waiting for specialist care, before and after procedures, when pain returns and when TN begins to affect work or family life.
Researchers need clinical data. They also need to understand what happens between appointments. Our day-to-day contact with patients shows where the gaps are between what a pathway says should happen and what people actually experience.
“That continuing relationship is built on trust.”
20 years
of trusted support
7 days a week
52 weeks a year
Members, Friends
families and carers
Real-world experience
you can’t get from data alone
Built on trust
respect and independence
Current TN trials and studies
Trigeminal neuralgia research is taking place around the world. We independently follow publicly registered studies across medicines, radiosurgery, procedures, neurophysiology and emerging treatments.
Being listed here does not mean that we run, fund or endorse a study. We link to the official study record so patients, clinicians and researchers can check the current information for themselves.
URGEnt-TN: Ultra-Early Gamma Knife Stereotactic Radiosurgery
University of Alberta, Canada
Phase 2 | NCT06949436 | Estimated enrolment: 80
What is being studied? Researchers are testing whether selected people with classical or idiopathic TN could benefit from Gamma Knife stereotactic radiosurgery earlier in the treatment pathway, before they become medically refractory.
Why could it matter? The study asks whether earlier radiosurgery could provide durable pain relief and reduce medication burden for some patients.
What don’t we know yet? This is an ongoing trial. It does not prove that earlier Gamma Knife is better or that treatment pathways should already change.
OnabotulinumtoxinA for Trigeminal Neuralgia
Stanford University, United States
Phase 4 | NCT06216886 | Estimated enrolment: 20
What is being studied? This randomised controlled trial compares intradermal onabotulinumtoxinA with saline in people with TN who meet the study criteria.
Why could it matter? The study is seeking stronger controlled evidence about whether onabotulinumtoxinA can help selected people whose medication has not provided adequate control and who are not ready for, do not want, or are not candidates for surgery.
What don’t we know yet? Recruitment into a trial does not make onabotulinumtoxinA an established standard treatment for TN. Results are needed before conclusions can be drawn from this study.
RELIEF
Kriya Therapeutics, Canada
Phase 1/2 | NCT07596485 | Estimated enrolment: 24
What is being studied? RELIEF is an early-stage study of RP-008, also known as KRIYA-748, given by percutaneous injection and followed by daily oral varenicline. Researchers are assessing safety, tolerability, dose and preliminary effects on TN pain and attack frequency.
Why could it matter? People whose TN is poorly controlled need new approaches to be investigated properly. Early-stage studies are an important first step in finding out whether a new approach is safe enough and promising enough to study further.
What don’t we know yet? This is Phase 1/2 research. It does not establish that the treatment is safe or effective for routine TN care.
Trigeminal Neuralgia Electrophysiology
University of Minnesota, United States
NCT05269472 | Estimated enrolment: 30
What is being studied? Researchers are studying whether trigeminal somatosensory evoked responses can be measured during percutaneous rhizotomy to improve personalised mapping of the trigeminal system.
Why could it matter? Better physiological information could eventually help specialists understand the nerve more precisely during treatment.
What don’t we know yet? The study is examining feasibility. It does not yet show that the technique improves long-term patient outcomes.
TRITON
Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Nice, France
NCT06863324 | Estimated enrolment: 74
What is being studied? TRITON is examining whether individual radiosensitivity is associated with late effects and outcomes after radiosurgery for trigeminal neuralgia.
Why could it matter? If researchers can better understand why people respond differently to radiosurgery, future treatment decisions may become more individualised.
What don’t we know yet? This research does not yet provide a validated test for deciding who should receive radiosurgery or predicting individual outcomes.
Libra: basimglurant
Noema Pharma | Phase 2/3 | NCT05217628
Libra is evaluating basimglurant in adults with trigeminal neuralgia whose pain responded inadequately to their existing treatment. The official ClinicalTrials.gov record currently lists the study as active but not recruiting and does not currently post study results.
Our role was patient engagement and communication, not sponsorship, eligibility decisions or clinical management.
Latest TN research, explained
A research headline is not enough. We explain what was studied, what researchers found, how strong the evidence is, what remains uncertain and whether the findings change treatment now.
ACUTE TREATMENT
IV Fosphenytoin for TN
What a 2026 multicentre randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial tells us about hospital-based treatment for severe acute TN exacerbations.
TREATMENT TIMING
New TN Trial Tests Earlier Gamma Knife
Why researchers are studying whether selected patients could benefit from Gamma Knife earlier in the treatment pathway, and why a trial protocol is not the same as a result.
LONG-TERM OUTCOMES
Swedish Trigeminal Neuralgia Study
What a study of 3,531 adults followed over many years tells us about the wider health and safety burden associated with TN, and what it cannot prove.
SURGICAL EVIDENCE
Endoscopic MVD: New Evidence
What a 2026 systematic review of 1,205 patients tells us about endoscopic and microscopic microvascular decompression, recurrence, complications and what the evidence still cannot prove.
What does the evidence actually mean?
When we cover important research, we use the same questions each time so that people can see the difference between an interesting finding and evidence strong enough to change care.
What was studied?
What question were the researchers trying to answer?
How was the study carried out?
Was it a randomised trial, an observational study, a systematic review, laboratory work or another type of research?
What did researchers find?
What were the important results, in plain English?
How strong is the evidence?
How many people took part? Was there a comparison group? How long were people followed?
What are the limitations?
What can the study not tell us, and what uncertainty remains?
Does this change treatment now?
An interesting result is not automatically a new standard of care. We make that distinction clear.
What should TN research answer next?
Why does diagnosis take too long for some people?
We need better recognition and clearer routes between dentistry, primary care and specialist services.
Can TN be identified more accurately?
Research into clinical tools, imaging, disease mechanisms and other diagnostic approaches could help reduce uncertainty.
Can medicines work better with fewer side effects?
Pain control matters, but so do cognition, fatigue, balance, independence, work and quality of life.
What should happen during an acute TN crisis?
Patients and clinicians need clearer evidence about what to do when usual treatment is no longer controlling severe pain.
Which treatment is most likely to help which person?
Better evidence could make treatment decisions more individualised and better informed.
Why does pain return?
Recurrence following remission, medication, procedures or surgery remains an important research question.
Can we predict progression?
Understanding why TN changes over time may lead to earlier and more targeted treatment.
Can TN eventually be prevented or cured?
That remains the biggest question. Improving treatment matters now, but research should keep aiming beyond symptom control.
Our patient evidence
Our 2024-25 survey gathered 567 consenting responses on diagnosis, treatment, daily life and the impact of TN.
Work with us on research
We welcome researchers, clinicians, universities, funders and life-sciences partners who want to improve outcomes for people living with TN.
Research takes time.
People need help now.
Our support is here every day of the year, while we work towards a future without TN pain.
Our patient evidence
Research is not only about what happens in a laboratory or clinic. It is also about what happens to people.
Patient evidence means structured information collected from people affected by a condition and analysed carefully.
Our published 2024-25 Patient Experience Survey included 567 consenting respondents. It examined diagnosis, dentistry, treatment, daily function, isolation, emotional wellbeing and other effects of living with TN.
We use patient evidence to identify recurring problems, help set research priorities, improve patient information, inform professional education and show researchers which outcomes matter to people living with TN.
Patient surveys have limits. They do not automatically represent everyone with TN and they cannot prove cause and effect. We state those limits because reliable evidence depends on being clear about what the data can and cannot tell us.
567
Consenting respondents in our 2024-25 Patient Experience Survey
Work with us on research
We welcome serious approaches from researchers, universities, NHS and healthcare organisations, clinicians, academic investigators, research funders, pharmaceutical companies, biotechnology organisations and life-sciences partners.
We would rather be involved early enough to make a useful contribution.
Patient and public involvement
Bring lived experience into research planning from the beginning.
Research priorities
Understand the questions people affected by TN most want answered.
Study design
Consider whether participation will work in real life as well as on paper.
Patient-facing information
Make complex research understandable without sacrificing accuracy.
Questionnaires and outcomes
Consider pain alongside function, treatment burden, work, quality of life and other outcomes important to patients.
Research webinars
Give researchers an appropriate way to explain relevant projects directly to the TN community.
Research awareness
Help legitimate, properly governed research opportunities reach people who may be interested.
Dissemination
Make sure important findings do not remain trapped in academic publications.
Plain-English research communication
Explain what a study found, what it did not find and why it matters.
Talk to us early. The people your research is intended to help are already part of our community.
Patient trust comes first
Our community is not a database for sale.
We do not sell member lists.
We do not decide whether somebody is eligible for a clinical trial.
We do not provide trial-specific medical advice.
We do not endorse a treatment simply because it is being investigated.
Being listed in our trial watch does not mean that TNA runs, funds or endorses the study.
Research teams and sponsors remain responsible for recruitment, informed consent, study governance, clinical decisions and participant safety. Any collaboration must respect patient privacy, independence, transparency and the interests of people affected by TN.
Research takes time. People need help now.
We have supported people affected by trigeminal neuralgia since 1999.
Our helpline and e-helpline are supported seven days a week, 52 weeks a year, alongside Regional Support Groups and our Friendship Line. That support continues whether or not a particular clinical study is recruiting.
Our support does not disappear when a study finishes or a funding programme ends.
Donations help us continue supporting people living with TN and their families while strengthening patient evidence, research engagement, education, trusted information and the patient voice.
Our longevity gives us experience. Our community gives us insight. Their trust gives us a responsibility to use both well.
Help us support people living with TN today while working towards a better future.
Trigeminal neuralgia research: questions and answers
Current TN research includes studies of disease mechanisms, diagnosis, imaging, medicines, acute treatment, radiosurgery, procedures, treatment timing, recurrence, patient outcomes and quality of life. New clinical trials are also investigating emerging therapeutic approaches.
Yes. Current studies include work on medicines, onabotulinumtoxinA, earlier Gamma Knife treatment, neurophysiological techniques, radiosurgery outcomes and emerging treatments. Recruitment changes over time, so the official study registry should always be checked.
Some studies recruit people affected by TN. Each study has its own eligibility criteria. The research team responsible for the study decides eligibility and manages informed consent, study procedures and participant safety.
There is not currently a treatment that cures every form of TN. Research is investigating the mechanisms of the condition, better diagnosis, new treatments and ways of improving existing treatment. The long-term ambition must remain prevention and lasting freedom from TN pain.
Patients can help identify important research questions, explain how TN affects everyday life, review study information, identify barriers to participation and help researchers select outcomes that matter in the real world.
Researchers can approach us about patient and public involvement, research priorities, study design, patient information, outcome measures, research webinars, appropriate research communications and dissemination.
We consider the type and design of a study, participant numbers, comparison groups where relevant, outcomes, follow-up, publication status, limitations, funding and potential conflicts of interest. We distinguish early research from established evidence and trial protocols from completed results.
Help change the future of trigeminal neuralgia
We need to understand TN better, recognise it earlier, improve treatment and keep working towards a future in
which trigeminal neuralgia can be prevented or stopped.
Medical information
This page provides general information about research and clinical studies. It is not medical advice, a diagnosis or a recommendation to take part in a particular treatment or study. People considering clinical research should read the official study information and speak with the research team and an appropriately qualified healthcare professional.