Three-dimensional MRI of hemifacial spasm with surgical correlation

MRI was used to investigate 100 patients with hemifacial spasm, using 3D-FT T2-weighted (CISS) and contrast-enhanced 3D-FT T1-weighted (turbo-FLASH) sequences in all cases. MR angiography was performed in 54 patients, using 3D-MT FISP images. Decompression of the facial nerve through a retromastoid craniotomy was performed in all patients. Hemifacial spasm caused by tumours in the cerebellopontine angle was not included. Vascular contact with the facial nerve root-exit zone or at the internal auditory canal was present in 96 of 100 patients with hemifacial spasm. The vessel responsible was the vertebral artery (VA) in 18 cases, the posterior inferior cerebellar artery (PICA) in 23, the anterior inferior cerebellar artery (AICA) in 22, the VA and PICA in 24, VA and AICA in 3, PICA and AICA in 1, VA, PICA and AICA in 4, and a vein in 1 case. CISS images showed compressive vascular loops better than contrast-enhanced turbo-FLASH images alone. The sensitivity of MRI was high, since only one false-negative case was found among the 100 patients who underwent surgery.