Session Information
Date: Wednesday, June 22, 2016
Session Title: Neuroimaging (non-PD)
Session Time: 12:00pm-1:30pm
Location: Exhibit Hall located in Hall B, Level 2
Objective: To objectively compute the degree of vascular sinuosity in the vertebrobasilar arteries in hemifacial spasm (HFS) and control subjects using a case-control MRI/A approach.
Background: Hemifacial spasm (HFS) is characterized by intermittent, involuntary muscular contractions on one side of the face. Vascular sinuosity has been attributed as a risk factor in HFS patients. However, this has not been studied objectively.
Methods: A simple index of vessel over chord length was utilized to compute vascular sinuosity of the vertebral (VA) and basilar arteries (BA) in HFS and controls. Two independent and blinded raters measured this on the semi-automated vessel probe tool in commercially available imaging workstations. Inter-rater reliability of the sinuosity index was calculated using the intraclass correlation (ICC). A multivariate analysis with independent variables such as age, gender, hypertension and PF volume was performed. Statistical significance was defined at p <0.5.
Results: There were a total of 79 subjects: 40 HFS and 39 controls matched for age, gender and hypertension. The left VA was dominant in 20 HFS patients and 23 controls. The ICC for the sinuosity indices between the two raters was near perfect at >0.9. There was no significant difference in the vascular sinuosity index of the BA (1.09 vs 1.16, p=0.26, 95%CI 1.07, 1.23), right VA (1.15 vs 1.15, p=0.83, 95%CI 1.06, 1.38) and left VA (1.14 vs 1.288, p=0.16, 95%CI 1.14, 1.44) between HFS and controls +/- adjustments for age, gender, posterior fossa volume and hypertension.
Conclusions: We showed for the first time that vascular sinuosity in the vertebrobasilar arteries can be simply, objectively and reliably computed using commercially available workstations. Contrary to popular belief, there was no objective differences in the vascular sinuosity of the vertebrobasilar arteries between HFS and controls. Our results suggest that vascular sinuosity is not the only factor in the complex pathophysiology of HFS.
To cite this abstract in AMA style:
L. Chan, E.C. Edmond, S.X.L. Sim, H. Li, E. Tan. Hemifacial spasm: Objective computation of vertebrobasilar vascular sinuosity [abstract]. Mov Disord. 2016; 31 (suppl 2). https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/hemifacial-spasm-objective-computation-of-vertebrobasilar-vascular-sinuosity/. Accessed May 16, 2025.« Back to 2016 International Congress
MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/hemifacial-spasm-objective-computation-of-vertebrobasilar-vascular-sinuosity/