Medical first at Royal Hospital in Oman

Muscat: A new medical procedure has been used for the first time in the Sultanate to treat intractable pain, officials announced.

The Royal Hospital's Pain Clinic has recently performed, for the first time in the Sultanate, a radio frequency intervention procedure to treat a 65-year-old woman who suffered from intractable pain on the right side of her face.

The medical issue is called trigeminal neuralgia, and is a disease which causes intense and extreme episodes of facial pain. According to the Ministry of Health, the episodes are often like 'electric shocks', lasting from a few seconds to several minutes at a time.

The disease is thought to be caused by the compression of the 'trigeminal nerve' near the brain, and females in old age are seen to be the main victims of the diseases.

"Despite having many oral medications, this type of pain often continues for months and years. Radio frequency intervention is one of the best options with good scientific basis to treat trigeminal neuralgia," the Ministry said.

"Most of the time, it is a daycare procedure. Side effects or complications are minimal. Pain relief usually lasts for a long time, though it varies in individual patients," it added.

Two weeks following the procedure, the patient confirmed to the Ministry of Health that the pain has reduced by 70 per cent, and that her quality of life has remarkably improved.