Microvascular decompression for microvascularly compressive cranial neuropathy

Objective To summarize the experience in treating microvascularly compressive cranial neuropathy (MCCN), including trigeminal neuralgia, hemifacial spasm and glossopharyngeal neuralgia, by microvascular decompression. Methods Of 256 patients who were treated by microvascular decompression from January, 2006 to March, 2009, 134 suffered from trigeminal neuralgia, 117 hemifacial spasm and 5 glossopharyngeal neuralgia. Their clinical data were analyzed retrospectively. Results The effective rates of microvascular decompression in the patients with trigeminal neuralgia and ones with hemifacial spasm were 94.2% and 96.6% respectively. The neuralgia disappeared immediately after the operation in 5 patients with glossopharyngeal neuralgia. After the operation, there were the mild reactions in 15 patients, who accounted for 5.9% of all the patients, and there were the severe complications in 6 patients, who accounted for 2.3% of all the patients. No patients died from the surgery. The following up from 6 to 72 months (mean, 36 months) showed that the recurrent rate was 7.1% in 168 of 245 patients with good curative effect. Conclusions The microvascular decompression is an effective method to treat MCCN. The incidence of the postoperative complication can be effectively reduced by the skillful microsurgical technique.