The success of repeat surgery for recurrent trigeminal neuralgia (TN)—with microvascular decompression (MVD), percutaneous rhizotomy (PR), or stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS)—is not well-studied. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of the literature on repeat surgery recurrent TN, focusing on the durability of pain relief and relative efficacy of MVD, PR, and SRS. Methods: A PRISMA systematic review of Medline/Embase/Pubmed identified studies of adults with unilateral idiopathic

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... undergoing repeat surgery. The primary outcome of complete pain relief (CPR) at last follow-up was analyzed with a multivariate mixed-effects meta-analysis of proportions. Results: Seventy-eight studies met criteria; 61 were included in meta-analyses, containing 29/14/25 cohorts with 900/684/1353 patients undergoing MVD/PR/SRS respectively (mean age 64.7 years, 41% males). Initial CPR was 69% (74%/85%/52%). CPR at mean 39.7 month follow-up (38.3/38.8/41.0) was 48% (59%/60%/34%). Initial CPR for both MVD (CPR: 0.78 [0.70-0.85]) and PR (CPR: 0.93 [0.83-0.98]) was superior to SRS (CPR: 0.48 [0.35-0.61]). At follow-up, MVD (0.45 [0.32-0.58]) and PR (0.45 [0.30-0.60]) trended towards superior CPR versus SRS (0.25 [0.15-0.37]). Conclusions: Half of recurrent TN patients achieve good pain control 3 years after repeat surgery. MVD/PR showed superior initial pain relief and likely better long-term relief. These findings can inform surgical decision-making in this challenging population.