Hemifacial Spasm Effective Treatment

Regarding the retrospective analysis, 242 of 331 patients completed the questionnaire. The mean score of the 10 QOL questions improved from 22.78 (SD 9.83) to 2.17 (SD 5.75) following MVD (p < 0.001). There was significant improvement across all subscales of the questionnaire between pre- and postoperative responses (p < 0.001). Regarding the systematic review, it is reported that approximately 90% of patients undergoing MVD for HFS experience a complete recovery from symptoms, whereas the mean peak improvement of symptoms following treatment with BT is 77%. Furthermore, patients undergoing MVD reported a greater improvement in the mean supplemental index of QOL as compared with patients receiving BT therapy.

CONCLUSIONS

Microvascular decompression offers a significant improvement in QOL in well-selected patients suffering from HFS, and may offer an increased benefit for QOL over BT injections.