Vol.101 No.6 contentsPRACTICA OTO-RHINO-LARYNGOLOGICA
Vol. 101 No. 6 June 2008
The Value of Electroneurography in Acute
Peripheral Facial Nerve Palsy
Shujiro Minami
(Saiseikai Utsunomiya Hospital, Shizuoka Red Cross Hospital)
Seiichi Shinden, Taku Yamashita and Koichiro Wasano
(Saiseikai Utsunomiya Hospital)
Naoki Oishi
(Keio University School of Medicine)
Objective: To evaluate the use of electroneurography (ENoG) as a prognostic indicator in acute peripheral facial paralysis in a general hospital. Design: Retrospective study. Participants: The patients had been treated for a sudden onset unilateral facial paralysis during an 18 month period (2005.7-2006.12). Main outcome measures: ENoG was performed 7 to 14 days after the onset facial palsy. The recovery of facial nerve function was documented by Yanagihara's grading system. All patients were followed monthly until recovery or up to 6 months after onset. Results: One-hundred ten patients with acute peripheral facial paralysis, including Bell's palsy (86％), Ramsay-Hunt Syndrome (6％), trauma (6％), and others (2％) underwent ENoG test. Patients were divided into 5 classes according to the ENoG value; [40％-] 41％, [20-40％] 24％, [10-20％] 9％, [0-10％] 11％, [0％] 15％. The recovery rate in each group was; [40％-] 98％, [20-40％] 96％, [10-20％] 90％, [0-10％] 58％, [0％] 24％. The patients whose ENoG values were greater than 10％ showed a 96％ chance of recovery (sensitivity 0.88, specificity 0.86). Patients with a greater ENoG value recovered significantly faster. Conclusion: ENoG provides accurate information predicting the prognosis and recovery rate of patients with facial palsy.
Key words :electroneurography, facial palsy, ENoG