MRI of glossopharyngeal neuralgia caused by neurovascular compression.
OBJECTIVE
Glossopharyngeal neuralgia is rare but causes severe pain. We retrospectively evaluated preoperative MR images of patients with glossopharyngeal neuralgia caused by neurovascular compression.


CONCLUSIONS
MRI may be beneficial in patients with glossopharyngeal neuralgia and an offending compressing artery. If the offending vessel was the posterior inferior cerebellar artery (PICA), a loop formation at the supraolivary fossette was always seen, whereas if it was the anterior inferior cerebellar artery (AICA), glossopharyngeal neuralgia was difficult to diagnose before surgery.
Hiwatashi
Akio
A
Department of Clinical Radiology, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, 3-1-1 Maidashi, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka 812-8582, Japan.
Matsushima
Toshio
T
Yoshiura
Takashi
T
Tanaka
Atsuo
A
Noguchi
Tomoyuki
T
Togao
Osamu
O
Yamashita
Koji
K
Honda
Hiroshi
H
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003287:Contrast Media; D019299:Decompression, Surgical; D005260:Female; D019786:Gadolinium DTPA; D005930:Glossopharyngeal Nerve; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009408:Nerve Compression Syndromes / Q000150:complications* / Q000601:surgery; D009437:Neuralgia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology* / Q000601:surgery; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric
D003287:Contrast Media; D019786:Gadolinium DTPA