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A successful treatment of hemifacial spasm due to anterior inferior cerebellar artery aneurysm in adolescent: a case report and literature review

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Abstract

Objective

Hemifacial spasm (HFS) is usually caused by compression of the facial nerve at the root exit zone (REZ), and is extremely rare in adolescents and even rarer in aneurysm compression.

Case report

We describe symptomatic hemifacial spasm caused by a saccular aneurysm of the anterior inferior cerebellar artery (AICA) that was treated by clipping. A 17-year-old adolescent developed left hemifacial spasm that had gradually worsened over a period of 1 year before admission to our department. During the course of MVD (microvascular decompression), saccular aneurysm of AICA was accidentally found to compress the facial nerve. The cause of the facial spasm was considered to be compression of the left facial nerve by the aneurysm. Clipping the aneurysm was performed. The hemifacial spasm disappeared immediately.

Conclusion

Our report indicates that HFS caused by saccular aneurysm of AICA can be treated by clipping, and that aneurysms should be considered in the treatment of adolescent HFS, especially those difficult to identify on imaging examination.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank all the individuals who offered help and advice on this study. Special thanks to Mrs. Li for her important contribution to the revision process.

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Author notes

  1. Bowen Chang, Yinda Tang and Yanzhen Li contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurosurgery, XinHua Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai, 200092, China

    Bowen Chang, Yinda Tang, Yanzhen Li, Jin Zhu, Xuan Zheng & Shiting Li

Authors
  1. Bowen Chang
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  2. Yinda Tang
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  3. Yanzhen Li
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  4. Jin Zhu
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  5. Xuan Zheng
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  6. Shiting Li
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Correspondence to Shiting Li.

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Chang, B., Tang, Y., Li, Y. et al. A successful treatment of hemifacial spasm due to anterior inferior cerebellar artery aneurysm in adolescent: a case report and literature review. Childs Nerv Syst 37, 339–343 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00381-020-04691-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00381-020-04691-7

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