Disease of lower cranial nerves caused by vascular compression

Abstract

Between April 1989 and September 2007, 181 patients with disease of lower cranial nerves (DLCN) underwent posterior fossa exploration. As a cause of DLCN, vascular compression (VC) was present in 89 patients with trigeminal neuralgia (TN), in 6 with hemifacial spasm (HFS), in 1 with glossopharyngeal neuralgia, in 1 with Meniere's disease, and in 5 with multiple DLCN. Depending on intraoperative findings, different surgical options were used: microvascular decompression (MVD), MVD with partial sensory rhizotomy (PSR) or total sensory rhizotomy (TSR). Statistic analysis was made using the Fisher's exact 2-side test. In patients with TN, excellent outcome was archived in 83 patients and good in 6. Postoperative outcome was better (p = 0.007) in cases with severe VC, but without significant correlation between used surgical option and outcome (p = 0.402). Frequency rate of relapses did not depend on severity of VC (p = 0.502) and used surgical option (p = 0.175). In 6 patients with HFS, excellent outcome was archived in 5 with arterial compression and poor in 1 with venous contact. In patients with Meniere's disease and glossopharyngeal neuralgia, MVD result with excellent outcome. In 5 patients with multiple DLCN, excellent outcome was archived in 3 and good in 2. MVD is method of choice in surgical treatment of DLCN caused by VC. Overall outcome is better with severity of VC.