Unilateral Facial Weakness Research Articles

Primary intratympanic meningioma.

A case of middle ear meningioma arising from the intratympanic course of the facial nerve, associated with neurofibromatosis and acoustic neuroma, is reported. Progressive unilateral facial nerve weakness in the absence of ear or central nervous system disease should alert the examining physician to the possibility of a tumor along the course of the seventh cranial nerve.

Cardiofacial syndrome. Report of two cases o congenital heart disease with congenital unilateral partial facial weakness.

Cardiofacial syndrome. Report of two cases o congenital heart disease with congenital unilateral partial facial weakness.

Further Studies of Patients with the Cardiofacial Syndrome

This article reports 30 cases of the cardiofacial syndrome (unilateral partial lower facial weakness and congenital heart disease). Fifteen of these infants had serious cardiac anomalies which resulted in congestive failure. Nineteen had abnormalities of other systems. Chromosome studies of 11 patients and seven controls showed no change which was specific for the cardiofacial syndrome. Viral studies in five babies and four of their mothers gave negative results. Since 1966, 5 percent to 10 percent of babies with congenital heart disease seen at our center have had associated facial weakness. At present, the etiology of the syndrome remains obscure; however, it is speculated that the etiology is related to a subclinical viral infection during the fifth or sixth week of gestation and may result from the close spatial relationship of the developing hyoid arch to the cardiac primordium and the close temporal relationship of facial innervation to cardiac septation.

Facial paralysis and muscle agenesis in the newborn.

In RESPONSE to the need for accuracy in the differential diagnosis and prognosis of facial paralysis in the newborn, the appropriate electrodiagnostic tests have been performed under controlled general anesthesia. This method of evaluation has proven to be a practical solution to the recognized difficulties of early assessment of facial weakness in these infants; and the unexpected findings, in this study, have given rise to a new concept of the multiple causes of neonatal facial asymmetry. Among five cases investigated, one infant had complete unilateral facial paralysis, apparently due to birth or forceps trauma or both; the test results provided objective evidence, at 30 days of age, that complete recovery could be confidently expected, without surgical decompression of the facial nerve. Four infants had partial unilateral facial weakness, presumably due to birth trauma. The test results indicated an absence of the affected muscles in two cases, and a combination of