Normal facial nerve enhancement on MRI

Last revised by Benjamin Li Shun Chan on 28 Feb 2024

Citation, DOI, disclosures and article data

Citation:

Gaillard F, Chan B, b, et al. Normal facial nerve enhancement on MRI. Reference article, Radiopaedia.org (Accessed on 23 Apr 2024) https://doi.org/10.53347/rID-1738

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.53347/rID-1738

Permalink:

https://radiopaedia.org/articles/1738

rID:

1738

Article created:

2 May 2008, Frank Gaillard ◉ ◈

Disclosures:

At the time the article was created Frank Gaillard had no recorded disclosures.

View Frank Gaillard's current disclosures

Last revised:

28 Feb 2024, Benjamin Li Shun Chan ◉

Disclosures:

At the time the article was last revised Benjamin Li Shun Chan had no financial relationships to ineligible companies to disclose.

View Benjamin Li Shun Chan's current disclosures

Revisions:

13 times, by 11 contributors - see full revision history and disclosures

Systems:

Central Nervous System

Sections:

Anatomy

Tags:

cases, case3, snippet

Synonyms:

Normal facial nerve enhancement - MRI

The normal facial nerve (CN VII) can demonstrate some enhancement post gadolinium, with the prevalence of which segments is highly variable depending on the MRI sequence ^4-8. Enhancement may be asymmetric ^4-6. It has been attributed to the circumneural facial arteriovenous plexus.c

Typical sites of enhancement ^4-6:

fundal canalicular
anterior genu (geniculate ganglion)
posterior genu (between tympanic and mastoid segments)

No enhancement should be seen in normal facial nerves in the meatal segment (that in the internal acoustic meatus) or extracranial segment (beyond the stylomastoid foramen). The intracanalicular-labyrinthine segment typically does not usually enhance ⁹.

References

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