Relationship between posterior fossa space and hemifacial spasm

VernacularTitle:后颅窝空间大小与面肌痉挛发生的相关性
Author: Weibin LIANG ; Ke MAO ; Kecong WEI ; Gaolian ZHANG
Publication Type:Journal Article
Keywords: Cranial fossa,posterior; Hemifacial spasm; Nerve compression syndromes
From: Chinese Journal of Neurology 2015;48(11):984-986
CountryChina
Language:Chinese
Abstract: Objective To quantitatively study the posterior fossa effective space and its relationship with hemifacial spasm (HFS).Methods We conducted a case-control study of patients diagnosed with HFS and sex-and age-matched healthy controls.All subjects underwent high-resolution three-dimensional MRI.The software of 3D-Slicer was used to measure the posterior fossa space and hindbrain tissue volume between the two groups.Results Sixty patients and 60 controls were enrolled in this study.Compared to controls,patients with HFS had a higher posterior fossa crowdedness index (PFCI;83.7％ ± 0.6％ vs 79.2％ ± 0.4％;t =2.58, P =0.01).The multivariate linear regression analysis revealed that a higher PFCI was associated with younger age (r =-0.61, P =0.02), female gender (r =0.76, P =0.003) and HFS (r =-0.43, P =0.01).Conclusions Patients with HFS have a more crowded posterior fossa space than healthy controls, potentially leading to cranial nerve and vascular structure crowding, thus increasing HFS risk.Women have a higher PFCI, which may explain the strong female preponderance in epidemiologic studies.