Evaluation of Clinical Outcome of Microvascular Decompression for Hemifacial Spasm using Advanced Processing of High Resolution MRI Data

Objective: The detailed understanding of the complex anatomical relationships between nerves and vessels at the surface of the brainstem is of major importance for the surgical treatment of neurovascular compression (NVC) syndromes using microvascular decompression (MVD). Due to the more ventral access to the site of NVC in case of hemifacial spasm advanced image based planning is crucial for optimal surgery and the related clinical outcome. In this regard, high resolution MRI of the brainstem is an established technique. In order to overcome the limitations of pure 2D slice representations regarded as insuffici…