Neurovascular compression in painful tic convulsif

E T Fonoff1, V P Araújo, Y S A de Oliveira

  • 1Division of Functional Neurosurgery, Department of Neurology of School of Medicine of University of São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil. fonoffet@usp.br

Acta Neurochirurgica
|April 28, 2009
PubMed

This article describes the case of a 67-year-old woman who presented with a typical left hemifacial spasm of 8-month duration. After 2 months, she experienced lacinating and sharp shock-like pain in the left side of her face affecting the V1 and V2 territories and a discrete attenuation of nauseous reflex on the left side. CT angiography and MRI revealed significant compression of left cranial nerves V, VII, VIII, IX and X by a giant and tortuous vertebro-basilar arterial complex. This case illustrates the nonlinearity of the relationship between the presence of the stressor factor and the actual manifestation of the disease.