Bell palsy ; Herpes zoster oticus ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Facial nerve
Abstract
We investigated the correlation between gadolinium enhanced MRI finding and swelling segments of facial nerve in patients with in Bell’s Palsy and Ramsay-Hunt Syndrome. From 1995 to 2004, an MRI was performed on 13 patients with Bell’s Palsy or Ramsay-Hunt syndrome. These patients were offered a surgical decompression of facial nerve through middle cranial fossa. They were evaluated to assess the time to MRI and to operation after onset, the site of facial nerve enhancement, operative finding of facial nerve and initial/ postoperative severity of facial palsy.
The swelling of facial nerve segments is found in patients with enhanced facial nerve during an MRI. In particular, the swelling of facial nerve is identified in all patients with enhanced facial nerves in the labyrinthine segment. Respectively, the swelling of geniculate ganglion and tympanic segment of the facial nerve accounts for 78% and 43% of patients with enhanced facial segment during an MRI (p<0.05). The incidence of swelling of tympanic segment, increases and decreases over the course of time following surgery after the onset of paralysis. In summary, an MRI enhancement of facial nerves in Bell’s Palsy and Ramsay-Hunt syndrome is well associated with the extent of intratemporal lesions in facial nerves.