title: Bell's palsy in children: relationship between electroneurography findings and prognosis in comparison with adults.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the correlation between electroneurography (ENoG) findings and the prognosis of Bell's palsy in children compared with adults.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty-two children and 92 adults with Bell's palsy who underwent ENoG between 8 days and 4 weeks from the onset of symptoms were retrospectively enrolled. The time to maximal recovery and rate of favorable recovery (House-Brackmann grade I or II) was assessed. Children (C) and adults (A) were further subdivided into low (<10%) or high (≧10%) subgroups according to their ENoG values (affected versus unaffected side) at initial evaluation. The numbers in each subgroup were as follows: C-low (n = 8), A-low (n = 21), C-high (n = 14), and A-high (n = 71).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 22 children assessed, 2 of the 4 patients who showed a total loss of evoked potentials on the affected side (0% ENoG value) exhibited an unfavorable recovery. The remaining 20 patients achieved a favorable recovery eventually. Patients in group C-low reached a maximal recovery of facial movement significantly later than those in group C-high (p < 0.001). Time to maximal recovery of facial movement in group A-low was later than that in group C-low, although the difference was not statistically significant (p = 0.15). The patients in group A-high reached a maximal recovery significantly later than those in group C-high (p < 0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Bell's palsy seems to recover earlier in children than adults when matched for severity. The presence of an identifiable response in ENoG, irrespective of its amplitude, may indicate a favorable recovery of facial movement in children.
authors: Department of Otolaryngology, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, Japan. sbaba-tky@umin.ac.jp
authors: Shintaro
authors: S
authors: Baba
authors: Kenji
authors: K
authors: Kondo
authors: Kaori
authors: K
authors: Kanaya
authors: Munetaka
authors: M
authors: Ushio
authors: Hitoshi
authors: H
authors: Tojima
authors: Tatsuya
authors: T
authors: Yamasoba
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D020330:Bell Palsy / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004568:Electrodiagnosis; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000502:physiology; D005154:Facial Nerve / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies