The TNA International Trigeminal Neuropathic Pain Research Project

The TNA Board of Directors has always been committed to finding answers. At the September Board meeting, the group voted to allocate $10,000 to confirm that commitment.

The newly formed research committee recently held a milestone two-day planning conference in the Gainesville, FL TNA national headquarters.

The Association has gathered information through our Patient Registry for several years. For the first time, project members viewed the Registry’s contents.

“I honestly had tears in my eyes some of the time thinking about how much energy we have put into our Patient Registry and to see how important it is to this group of researchers and to future patients,” said Michael Pasternak.

The group will initially focus on evaluating and comparing the TNA Patient Registry data with the data collected by the Mayo Clinic in their well-known look at the incidence and patterns in TN and related facial pains. The Mayo population data is part of a landmark series of work, started in 1945 in Olmstead County, Minnesota. This data has not been reviewed or reported on since 1984.

The group will examine the last twenty years of data looking for the number of cases of TN and the patterns of gender, age, and treatments to assess the changes from the most recent shifts in treatment.

Additional project goals are to examine the databases from our international partners such as those groups in the UK, Australia, Canada, and eleven other country groups worldwide.
Once the comprehensive incidence data is collected and demographic trends examined, the additional goals of defining potential risk factors, genetic relationships, and racial or gender factors will allow for specific research in the use of this knowledge to control the pain.

The project group will use the TNA Patient Registry as a prototype for future work in the role of support groups to provide information that leads to improved, timely care. There is a great deal of interest in the scientific community in this area, and our database is a great first step forward.

The project team will also refine the database questionnaires, both to provide more precise data as new trends are seen, as well as to provide concise answers to questions you and your physician may ask about timing of treatments, types of treatments, and related issues.

According to a number of distinguished researchers it appears that we have reached a point where TNA has become the focal point for leading a worldwide effort in TN epidemiological efforts.

Our registry is the single largest collection of data on TN patients ever gathered and will result in a series of publications and as the basis for future epidemiological studies.

Members of the Research Team include: