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Updated: Apr 18, 2026
Microvascular Decompression: Salient Surgical Principles and Technical Nuances
Published on: July 5, 2011
Microvascular decompression for typewriter tinnitus-case report
Tiit Mathiesen1, Krister Brantberg
1Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, 171 76, Stockholm, Sweden, tiit.mathiesen@karolinska.se.
Background:
Microvascular decompression has been tested as a treatment for tinnitus.
Methods:
However, only a fraction of patients appear to benefit from surgery if the combination of findings such as paroxysmal vertigo, ABR changes and tinnitus is used to select patients for microvascular decompression.
Results:
Instead, a more specific syndrome of staccato or "typewriter" tinnitus, which is highly responsive to carbamazepine, was suggested to be caused by a neurovascular conflict.
Conclusion:
We present the first case of typewriter tinnitus with complete long-term symptom relief following microvascular decompression of the vestibulocochlear nerve. We suggest that this specific syndrome is caused by a neurovascular conflict and treatable by microvascular decompression.
