Immittance measures in individuals with Moebuis Sequence

Abstract

Moebius Sequence has been described as a pathology which involves the VI and VII cranial nerves, causing facial palsy. Acoustic reflexes are elicited by a high intensity stimulation of the stapedius and the tensor tympani muscles. The VII cranial nerve is responsible for innervating the stapedius muscle. No acoustic reflexes are expected for individuals with this Sequence. To describe immittance findings in a series of individuals with Moebius Sequence. We had 17 individuals with Moebius Sequence of both gender, with age raging from 3 to 13 years, who were submitted to otoscopy and immittance measures. The results of this study indicated a Type A tympanometry in the majority of the analyzed ears, demonstrating normal function of the stapedius muscle. For the contralateral acoustic reflexes we observed it present in 50% of the ears. The ipsilateral acoustic reflexes were absent in the majority of the ears. The results of the acoustic reflexes suggested that this measure could help in the prognosis of VII cranial nerve lesions, since half of the individual presented those reflexes.