Gardner neurovascular decompression of the trigeminal and facial nerves for tic douloureux and hemifacial spasm.

Neurovascular decompression of the trigeminal and facial nerves for tic douloureux and hemifacial spasm has been performed for the past two decades, starting with W. James Gardner in 1959. Although other neurosurgeons have refined and further perfected the operation, reporting large series of successful results, the credit for the concept and original procedures, including use of the surgical microscope, has generally escaped the attention of present-day neurological surgeons. This paper attempts to correct this inequity.