MR tomographic angiography in evaluation of hemifacial spasm

This paper evaluates the utility of MR tomographic angiography (MRTA) in the diagnosis of hemifacial spasm (HFS). Over a 14-month period, 29 patients with a clinical diagnosis of HFS and 10 age-matched controls were evaluated with MRTA. Studies were performed on a 1.5-T Siemens Magnetomn SP using three-dimensional time-of-flight angiography that wan then reformatted with a multiplanar reconstruction program into submillimeter coronal MRTA. All studies were read separately by two neuroradiologist who were blinded to the clinical information. All 10 control studies were called negative, while 17 of 29 patients with HFS showed a clinical correspondence to the side of MRTA vascular compression of the seventh cranial nerve. Nine HFS patients had negative MRTA results. In 3 cases the MRTA findings placed the vascular compression on the side opposite the clinical HFS