Girl with trigeminal neuralgia, or suicide disease, seeks help at UCI Health
January 28, 2014
IN THE NEWS: KatieRose Hamilton, 13, never knows when the symptoms of trigeminal neuralgia will hit her. When they do, the sensation of knives stabbing the side of her head can last for hours.
KatieRose, who manages the pain with medication, has come from her home in Virginia in the hope that UCI Health neurosurgeon Dr. Mark E. Linskey can surgically fix the abnormalities in her brain that cause the condition, also known as the "suicide disease."
Linskey, who has performed several operations on other children with trigeminal neuralgia, told KABC News, "We've been successful in every one so far, but that doesn't mean we'll be successful on everybody. The success rate for this operation is about 80 percent," he said.
View KABC's interview with KatieRose Hamilton and Dr. Linskey ›
