Objective: The current study examined the efficacy of the facial corticobulbar motor evoked potentials (FCoMEPs) and blink reflex (BR) on predicting postoperative facial nerve function during cerebellopontine angle (CPA) tumor surgery.
Methods: Data from 110 patients who underwent CPA tumor resection with intraoperative FCoMEPs and BR monitoring were retrospectively reviewed. The association between the amplitude reduction ratios of FCoMEPs and BR at the end of surgery and postoperative facial nerve function was determined. Subsequently, the optimal threshold of FCoMEPs and BR for predicting postoperative facial nerve dysfunction were determined by receiver operating characteristic curve analysis.
Results: Valid BR was record in 103 of 110 patients, whereas only 43 patients successfully recorded FCoMEP in orbicularis oculi muscle. A reduction over 50.3% in FCoMEP (O. oris) amplitude was identified as a predictor of postoperative facial nerve dysfunction (sensitivity, 77.1%; specificity, 83.6%). BR was another independent predictor of postoperative facial nerve deficit with excellent predictive performance, especially eyelid closure function. Its optimal cut-off value for predicting long-term postoperative eyelid closure dysfunction was was 51.0% (sensitivity, 94.4%; specificity, 94.4%).
Conclusions: BR can compensate for the deficiencies of the FCoMEPs. The combination of BR and FCoMEPs can be used in CPA tumor surgery.
Significance: The study first proposed an optimal cut-off value of BR amplitude deterioration (50.0%) for predicting postoperative eyelid closure deficits in patients undergoing CPA tumor surgery.
Keywords: Blink reflex; Cerebellopontine angle tumor; Facial corticobulbar motor evoked potential; Facial nerve; Predictive value.
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