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Hemifacial spasm (HFS) is characterized by involuntary contraction of muscles innervated by the ipsilateral facial nerve. Generally, it initially involves the orbicularis oculi and gradually spreads to other parts of the face. It is typically caused by vascular compression of the proximal facial nerve. To investigate whether the presence and severity of neurovascular compression correlate with the symptomatic side in patients with HFS, investigators retrospectively analyzed 330 patients with HFS who underwent dedicated cranial nerve MRI and were treated with microvascular decompression surgery (MVD). Most (232) were female, and the average age was 55.7 years.
Compression of the nerve was found in symptomatic (97.8%) and asymptomatic sides (3…