Abstract
Microvascular decompression (MVD) is a novel surgical procedure predominantly performed for treating trigeminal neuralgia (TN) and hemifacial spasm (HS). Multiple studies have proven the long-term success of MVD for both these conditions. The most common complications of MVD reported include chemical meningitis, facial hypesthesia, cerebrospinal fluid leak, facial paresis, and hearing loss. Delayed facial palsy (DFP) is an uncommon complication mostly noted in MVD for HS and after the removal of acoustic tumors. We report two cases of DFP occurring after performing MVD, one each for HS and TN. This is also the first case of DFP to be reported after MVD for TN. Both were young females who developed DFP 2 weeks after surgery. They were managed with oral steroids and acyclovir for 2-3 weeks and achieved excellent outcome at an average of 4.5 weeks from the onset. We conclude that although majority of the cases improve spontaneously, steroids and acyclovir might assist in faster recovery.
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Association for Helping Neurosurgical Sick People. This is an open
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This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives License, which
permits unrestricted reproduction and distribution, for non-commercial
purposes only; and use and reproduction, but not distribution, of
adapted material for non-commercial purposes only, provided the original
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