Fourteen of fifteen patients woke from a procedure free of the facial pain that had resisted every medicine — and stayed better

Trigeminal neuralgia sends sudden, electric-shock jolts of pain across the face, triggered by something as small as chewing or a breeze, and some patients run out of medicines that help. Initial clinical results for a new treatment, NeuroOne's OneRF ablation system, have now been published in the peer-reviewed journal Pain Management. In the retrospective study of 15 patients whose pain had resisted medication, 14 achieved immediate pain freedom, and all 15 had favourable pain outcomes at an average of six months of follow-up. The system's thin-film probe carries multiple contacts along a single path, so doctors can map and treat the nerve's branches without repeatedly repositioning it — which may mean shorter procedures and fewer rounds of anaesthesia. It is early evidence from a small group, and larger studies will tell more; for those 15 people, the change was not small at all.

SDG 3 · Good health and well-being — Mechanism: tech innovation