The timing of surgical treatment of traumatic facial paralysis: a systematic review

Abstract

Conclusions: Surgical decompression performed within 2 weeks yields the best clinical prognosis for patients with TFP. This study also demonstrated that surgical exploration performed within 2 months results in acceptable outcomes.

Objectives: The ideal timing for surgical intervention of traumatic facial paralysis (TFP) is still controversial. A systematic review was performed to appropriately determine the timing of surgical decompression.

Methods: Related studies were identified by searching Pubmed, EMBASE, and Cochrane and reviewing the relevant reference lists until 1 March 2016. Surgical timing was classified into four sub-groups: <2 weeks, 2 weeks–1 month, 1–2 months, and >2 months.

Results: Six studies including 119 patients (119 cases) fulfilled the study requirements. The number of patients who achieved perfect recovery of House-Brackmanm (H-B) grade 1 was 40 of 119 patients (33.6%). Good results were demonstrated in 94.4% (17/18) of patients managed with surgical decompression within 2 weeks vs 63.4% (64/101) of patients undergoing surgical intervention at >2 weeks (p = 0.009).

Keywords:

• Facial function
• surgical timing
• surgical decompression
• traumatic facial never paralysis

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.

Funding information

This study was supported by the National Key Basic Research Program of China (973 Program), Grant No. 2014CB943003 and National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), Grant no. 81300819 and Grant No. 81170912. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.