Department of Neurosurgery

The most common vascular brain compression syndromes are trigeminal neuralgia, glossopharyngeal neuralgia, and hemifacial spasm.

The disorder is characterized by shooting and extremely intense facial pain or spasm (trigeminal neuralgia), pain in throat and tongue (glossopharyngeal nerve) which are caused by a contact between a vessel and the entry zone of the brain nerves into the brain stem. The episodes normally last a few seconds, sometimes a bit longer, and they can be triggered spontaneously as well as by stimulation such as skin contact, chewing, speaking, swallowing, or brushing teeth.

If medical treatment is not successful, surgical treatment is indicated at which the vessel’s position is changed microsurgically away from the brain nerve. This microvascular decompression, also known as the Jannetta procedure, is the procedure of choice. Alternative surgical treatments of the trigeminal neuralgia are transdermal procedures such as thermo coagulation, glycerol injections, stereotactic radiation therapy and electric stimulation techniques. For the treatment of hemifacial spasm, botox injections are an alternative to the microvascular decompression.