Microvascular Decompression for Patients With Hemifacial Spasm Associated With Common Trunk Anomaly of the Cerebellar Arteries—Case Study and Review of Literature

BACKGROUND Few previous studies have described the origin of both anterior and posterior inferior cerebellar arteries from one vessel as a common trunk anomaly. No previous studies have clearly described the aforementioned anomaly depending on intraoperative endoscopic visualization. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the association of a common trunk anomaly with hemifacial spasm, which makes microvascular decompression more challenging. METHODS All patients with common trunk anomaly associated with hemifacial spasm who received surgical treatment between 2006 and 2015 in our institution were identified in our prospectively collected database. Detection of the common trunk anomaly was performed using the intraoperative high-definition endoscopic inspection and confirmed by a retrospective review of the obtained operative videos. RESULTS Out of 248 cases of hemifacial spasm, 21 cases with a common trunk anomaly were detected, with an incidence rate of 8.5%. In 6 cases, the spasm was caused by more than 1 offending vessel “complex compression.” In 19 cases, total recovery occurred on follow-up, while in 1 case, 90% recovery occurred. One patient was spasm-free immediately after surgery, but died 3 wk after operation from herpes encephalitis. CONCLUSION Common trunk anomaly in hemifacial spasm is rare. The surgical technique is mostly identical to decompression with normally arising vessels. However, in case of a bifurcation situated close to the compression site where the offending vessel cannot be transposed freely, an extensive cushioning along the trunk and the offending vessels with teflon pledgets should be performed. The presence of a common trunk anomaly does not affect the surgical results.