Facial Nerve Grading 2.0 and Sunnybrook Facial Grading System

Abstract

Objective: We aim to measure the intra-system reliability and the inter-system agreement between the Facial Nerve Grading 2.0 and Sunnybrook Facial Grading system (SFGS). Method: Video clips of 12 patients with facial nerve dysfunction performing a protocol of facial expressions were recorded. Thirteen physicians were asked to evaluate the videos independently using the 2 scales. Results: The ICC score for FNG 2.0 and SFGS was 0.820 (95% CI=0.677-0.931) and 0.831 (95% CI=0.696-0.936), respectively. The FNG 2.0 and SFGS inter-system agreement ICC score was 0.959 (95% CI=0.944-0.970). Conclusion: Studies have established high intra-system reliability for the SFGS, and our results corroborate these. FNG 2.0 similarly shows high intra-system reliability. As the inter-system agreement was found to be near perfect in our study, the new FNG 2.0 should be considered as an alternative grading scale for facial nerve palsy.