Atypical Hemifacial Spasm

Summary

 Among 155 cases of hemifacial spasm (HFS), the authors found two cases of atypical HFS (1.3%) in which spasm started with the orbicularis oris and buccinator muscles, and gradually spread upward to involve the orbicularis occuli muscle, whereas the reverse process is usually seen in cases of typical HFS. The compression site in cases of atypical HFS is the posterior/rostral aspect of the facial nerve (FN), whereas it was the anterior/caudal aspect of the FN in all cases of typical HFS except for one. The meatal loop of the anterior inferior cerebellar artery (AICA) compressed the FN when the vessel passed between the FN and the eighth cranial nerve (8th N). These findings suggest that the topographical organization in the FN in the cerebellopontine cistern may be reversed to a peripheral distribution: the fibres on the posterior/rostral side of the FN innervate the lower part of the facial muscles, and those in the anterior/caudal side of the nerve innervate the upper part of the facial muscles. When examining patients with HFS, we must very carefully determine whether patients have typical or atypical HFS, to determine whether blood vessels (usually the meatal loop of the AICA) between the FN and the 8th N as well as at the root exit zone of the FN are to be decompressed.