Long-term results of microvascular decompression for trigeminal neuralgia and hemifacial spasms according to preoperative symptomatology

Microvascular decompression (MVD) is currently used in several centres for the treatment of trigeminal neuralgia (TN) and hemifacial spasms (HFS). How long-term results relate to the preoperative symptoms still needs to be documented. The primary aim of this study was to assess long-term results of MVD for TN and HFS, as related to the types of preoperative symptoms. We performed a retrospective study including all first-time MVDs for TN and HFS done during the 11-year period (1999-2009) in the Department of Neurosurgery, The National Hospital (Rikshospitalet), Oslo. The patients were categorized depending on the pre-operative symptomatology. The study population includes 303 first-time procedures performed by the senior author (PKE), 243 TN patients (65 % TN without constant pain and 35 % TN with constant pain) and 60 HFS patients (95 % typical HFS and 5 % atypical HFS). The patients were followed for a mean 71 months (range, 14-147). In both the TN and HFS patients, MVD caused lasting symptom relief in a high proportion of patients, including patients with atypical symptoms. After MVD for TN and HFS, regardless of preoperative symptoms, lasting relief is observed in a high proportion of patients, with a favorable complication profile.