Sequelae of peripheral facial palsy

Abstract

Introduction and objectivesOur purpose was to study functional sequelae after peripheral facial palsy (PFP) and to analyse its impact and relationship with the degree of facial nerve dysfunction, from the neurophysiological point of view. Material and methodsWe present a retrospective study that covers a total of 150 cases of peripheral facial palsy. All patients underwent electroneurography and electromyography to establish the degree of axonal damage and to evaluate the existence of signs of reinnervation in the muscles explored or possible innervation errors. ResultsOf the patients studied, 31.9% (46) had sequelae; 67.4% (31) were women, a statistically significant result (P=.031). Of all the sequelae, the most frequent was myokymia, which appeared in 24% (36) of the cases. Patients with left side involvement presented a higher number of sequelae (40.3%, 27 cases) with a statistically significant difference (P=.05). The average rate of axonal injury on first visit by patients who subsequently developed sequelae was 75.26%; worse results on electroneurography were statistically associated with the onset of sequelae (P=.007). Electromyography of patients with sequelae shows that a greater degree of denervation could be considered a risk factor for the occurrence of sequelae (P=.039). Discussion/conclusionsIn our study, we found that sequelae are more frequent after facial palsy when there is significant axonal loss. This study shows other risk factors not mentioned in the literature as yet, such as female gender and left-side involvement