Comparison of the efficacy of various doses of steroids for acute facial palsy

Abstract

Background: Although steroids are effective for multiple types of acute facial palsies, an appropriate dosage remains to be established.

Aims/Objectives: The objective of this study is to compare the efficacy of high, low, and moderate doses of steroids in patients with acute facial palsy.

Materials and methods: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 49 patients with Bell palsy, Ramsay Hunt syndrome, or traumatic facial palsy. The patients were divided into 3 groups. We determined the initial House-Brackmann (HB) grade of each patient and the HB grade at the 3-month follow-up to determine whether complete recovery was achieved.

Results: Results of electroneurography showed that the average and maximum rates of degeneration were not statistically different among the groups. Although the HB grade showed improvement after 3 months, the initial score was not significantly different from that at the follow-up. The degree of recovery was not significantly different among the groups.

Conclusion and significance: Our findings showed that a high dose of steroids did not achieve outcomes that were more clinically meaningful than did that of a moderate or a low-dose steroid. Therefore, moderate or low doses of steroids may be sufficient for the treatment of acute facial palsy.

Chinese abstract

背景：尽管类固醇对多种类型的急性面神经麻痹有效, 但仍需确定合适的剂量。

目的：本研究的目的是比较高、低和中等剂量类固醇对急性面神经麻痹患者的疗效。

材料与方法：回顾性分析49例贝尔麻痹、拉姆齐-亨特综合征或创伤性面神经麻痹患者的病历。将患者分为3组。我们确定了每位患者的初始House-Brackmann（HB）等级, 并在3个月的随访中确定HB等级, 以确定是否完全康复。

结果：神经网络造影结果显示, 各组患者的平均退变率和最大退变率无统计学差异。虽然3个月后HB等级有所改善, 但初始评分与随访时无明显差异。组间的恢复程度无显著差异。

结论和意义：我们的研究结果表明, 高剂量类固醇并没有达到比中剂量或低剂量类固醇更具有临床意义的结果。因此, 中等或低剂量的类固醇可能足以治疗急性面神经麻痹。

Keywords:

• Acute facial palsy
• steroid
• dose
• treatment

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by a Korea University Grant.