Philippine Journal of Surgical Specialties Vol. 81, No. 1, January-June 2026, pp 1-7
Quality of Life Assessment After Microvascular Decompression for Hemifacial Spasm Using a Tagalog-Translated and -Validated HFS-7 Questionnaire
Author(s): Jeanne Vyka F. Sarangay, MD; Jeremiah Garcia, MD; Oliver Ryan Malilay, MD, FAFN; Joseph Erroll V. Navarro, MD, FAFN; Jose Carlos S. Alcazaren, MD, FAFN; Kenny S. Seng, MD, FAFN
Rationale/Objective:
Hemifacial spasm (HFS) is painless, paroxysmal, repetitive twitching of the unilateral facial muscle initially starting with the orbicularis oculi progressing to mid and lower facial muscles. This condition can be disabling and affect quality of life. Microvascular decompression (MVD) offers t he m ost permanent treatment and outcomes are measured through cessation of spasm. There are currently no Filipino-translated questionnaires to measure the quality of life (QOL) of patients with HFS. This study translated and validated the HFS-7 questionnaire and used it to assess and compare the preoperative and postoperative QOL of patients with HFS following MVD.
Methods:
The HFS-7 questionnaire was translated to Tagalog using a “forward–backward” translation method by 2 independent linguists. The translated questionnaire was validated by 4 expert neurosurgeons and were sent to 27 HFS patients to retrospectively assess pre-op and post-op QOL.
Results:
Twenty out of 27 HFS patients answered the survey. Majority of HFS patients were middle-aged females. The Criterion Validity Index (CVI) showed a result of 1 which indicates good validity of the translated HFS-7. It has good reliability with Cronbach alpha score of 0.97. T-test comparing the pre-op and post op scores showed that there is a significant improvement in QOL of HFS patients after MVD.
Conclusion:
In patients with HFS, MVD offers an improvement of postoperative versus preoperative quality of life measurements. The Tagalog-translated HFS-7 questionnaire is a valid and reliable objective tool in measuring this treatment outcome.
Key words: Microvascular decompression, hemifacial spasms, HFS-7, Quality of Life (QOL)