Neurovascular compression, the importance of radiological-clinical correlation

Abstract

Neurovascular compression (NVC) syndrome is a clinical-radiological condition resulting from direct contact and mechanical irritation of a cranial nerve by a blood vessel. It presents with different clinical syndromes depending on the compromised cranial nerve. Its imaging study is performed by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), which must include the apparent origin and the cisternal portion of the compromised cranial nerve, for which T2 weighted, angiographic and volumetric (3D) T1 sequences with intravenous gadolinium are used. MRI allows us to corroborate the presence of NVC and its differential diagnoses, in addition to being a therapeutic guide and response to treatment. The objectives of this review are to describe the pathophysiology of the NVC syndrome and its clinical-radiological correlation, and to exemplify the different NVC syndromes through illustrative cases. Both clinicians and radiologists must be familiar with the syndromes secondary to NVC and their imaging findings in order to make an accurate and timely diagnosis.