Nonspastic hemifacial spasm confirmed by abnormal muscle responses

BACKGROUND: Hemifacial spasm is usually diagnosed by inspection which mainly identifies involuntary movements of orbicularis oculi. Assessing abnormal muscle responses (AMR) is another diagnostic method. CASE DESCRIPTION: We report a case of left hemifacial spasm without detectable involuntary facial movements. The patient was a 48-year-old man with a long history of subjective left facial twitching. On magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), the left VIIth cranial nerve was compressed by the left anterior inferior cerebellar artery (AICA), which was in turn compressed by the left vertebral artery. We initially treated him with botulinum toxin. We were able to record AMR, and hemifacial spasm occurred after AMR stimulation, although no spasm was detectable by inspection. Subsequently, we performed microvascular decompression with transposition of the AICA that compressed the VIIth cranial nerve. His hemifacial spasm resolved by 5 weeks after surgery and was not induced by AMR stimulation. CONCLUSION: Hemifacial spasm can sometimes be diagnosed by detecting AMR rather than by visual inspection. We propose that such hemifacial spasm should be termed nonspastic hemifacial spasm.