Natural History of Untreated Hemifacial Spasm: A Study of 104 Consecutive Patients over 5 Years

Abstract

Background: The natural history without treatment of a large series of hemifacial spasm (HFS) patients has not been well-documented. Objective: The purpose of this study was to characterize the natural history and clinical outcome in patients with HFS. Methods: The initial visits of all 2,155 patients and the diagnosis of HFS took place between 2001 and 2010. In 1,775 of the patients, compressing vessels were identified on magnetic resonance imaging. Of these, we excluded 1,469 patients (82.8%) who received microvascular decompression, 101 (5.7%) who continued to visit the clinic for botulinum toxin injections, and 9 (0.5%) who died or suffered from other diseases. Ninety-two (5.2%) of the patients were lost to follow-up; the remaining 104 were followed up for 5-42 years (mean 12 years) after the onset of the symptoms of HFS. Results: The condition was aggravated in 11 (10.6%) of the 104 patients and stationary in 40 (38.5%) for 6-42 years (mean 13 years). Ten (9.6%) improved partially for 7-18 years (mean 11 years). Forty-three (41.3%) were in remission for between 2 months and 23 years (mean 6.4 years) after onset and required no further treatment for 5 months to 13 years (mean 5.7 years). Conclusion: This study provides useful information to HFS patients for understanding the disease and determining treatment.