Patient satisfaction and quality of life with hemifacial spasm treatments in Finland's largest hospital district.

[INTRODUCTION] Hemifacial spasm (HFS) treatments aim to remove involuntary facial twitching and improve the Quality of Life (QoL). No previous publications about overall patient treatment satisfaction or the impact of radiofrequency thermocoagulation (RFT) on patient satisfaction or QoL are available.

[RESEARCH QUESTION] This study describes patient satisfaction and QoL overall and in different treatment allocations.

[MATERIAL AND METHODS] This cross-sectional questionnaire-based study was conducted in the Hospital District of Helsinki and Uusimaa (HUS). Consecutive HFS patients who had botulinum toxin (BTX), RFT, or microvascular decompression (MVD) between 2014 and 2019 were included. The participants answered HFS-7, 15D, and questions about treatment satisfaction and background.

[RESULTS] 59.40 % (N = 139) of contacted HFS patients in HUS (population responsibility 1.6 million) participated (82 female, 57 male). 79.14 % of patients were satisfied or very satisfied with the overall treatment. Most often, patients were satisfied with BTX (76.81 %). 52.63 % were satisfied with RFT, and 24.00 % with MVD. The mean HFS-7 scores for overall treatment, BTX, MVD, and RFT were 1.10, 1.13, 0.40, and 0.79 (scale 0-4). The mean 15D scores for overall treatment, BTX, MVD, and RFT were 0.87, 0.78, 0.91, and 0.86 (scale 0-1).Having RFT correlated negatively to BTX treatment satisfaction (p < 0.001, effect size 0.449). Patients were more satisfied with RFT results if the duration of relief in facial twitching lasted longer (p0.034, effect size 0.580).

[DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION] Patients are satisfied with the overall treatment. Treatment satisfaction does not correlate with QoL. QoL after RFT seems comparable with other treatment allocations.