Objective: Glossopharyngeal neuralgia is rare but causes severe pain. We retrospectively evaluated preoperative MR images of patients with glossopharyngeal neuralgia caused by neurovascular compression.

Conclusions: MRI may be beneficial in patients with glossopharyngeal neuralgia and an offending compressing artery. If the offending vessel was the posterior inferior cerebellar artery (PICA), a loop formation at the supraolivary fossette was always seen, whereas if it was the anterior inferior cerebellar artery (AICA), glossopharyngeal neuralgia was difficult to diagnose before surgery.