The Characteristics of the Clinical Improvement and the Electrodiagnostic Study in Facial Nerve Palsy

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to observe the characteristics of the clinical improvement and the electrodiagnostic study in non-traumatic facial nerve palsy. METHOD: The clinical observation and the electrodiagnostic study were done in 57 of 266 patients who were treated at the Kyunghee Medical Center from December 2000 to July 2001. The initial study was done at 2 weeks from the onset time, and the follow-up study was done at 3 months later. The blink reflex, nerve conduction study and needle EMG were done, and made a statistical comparison between the initial and follow-up study. RESULTS: The clinical improvement and the change of the electrodiagnostic study between the initial and follow-up study were remarkable in the patients with expected to be good and fair prognosis. In the electrodiagnosis study, there were no statistical correlations on the % degeneration of the CMAP amplitude in the patients with expected to be poor prognosis. CONCLUSION: Although the ideal electrodiagnostic study does not yet exist, the best method of evaluating the facial nerve is side-to-side evoked amplitude comparison, and not only the initial study but also the follow-up, this method would be very useful.