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Updated: Oct 13, 2026
Microvascular Decompression: Salient Surgical Principles and Technical Nuances
Published on: July 5, 2011
The strategy of microvascular decompression for hemifacial spasm: how to decide the endpoint of an MVD surgery
Hui Sun1, Shi-Ting Li, Jun Zhong
1Department of Neurosurgery, Xinhua Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, The Cranial Nerve Disease Center of Shanghai Jiaotong University, 1665 Kongjiang Road, Shanghai, China, 200092.
Objective:
Microvascular decompression (MVD) has become the standard treatment for hemifacial spasm. As not all patients get complete relief, this strategy is still controversial. The study aimed to figure out how to tell the proper endpoint to the surgery.
Methods:
A series of 356 consecutive patients with hemifacial spasm were enrolled in this study. All patients fell into two groups according to the period they presented. Two different criteria (simple criterion vs. complex criterion) to end an operation were applied respectively. The intra-operative finding, results and complications of these two groups were compared. The advantage of the complex criterion was analyzed.
Results:
The group which used complex criterion got better results than the group which used simple criterion. The complex criterion which combines full-length evidence, vascular evidence and electrophysiological evidence proved to be reliable to tell the proper endpoint to the surgery.
Conclusion:
MVD operations can be ended only after the full-length evidence, vascular evidence and electrophysiological evidence are all present.
