title: Comparison of the efficacy of prednisolone versus prednisolone and acyclovir in the treatment of Bell`s palsy.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To compare the efficacy of 2 regimens of prednisolone versus prednisolone and acyclovir in the treatment of Bell`s palsy.
  
  
  METHODS
  A retrospective study was performed on 496 Bell`s palsy patients attending Yahyanejad Hospital, Babol, Iran from 1995 to 2004, divided in 2 groups. The first group was treated with regimen one (oral prednisolone), and the second group was treated with regimen 2 (oral prednisolone plus oral acyclovir) for 2 weeks. All cases were followed for 6 months.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Two hundred and forty-eight cases (108 males, 140 females) were treated with regimen one, and 248 cases (113 males, 135 females), were treated with regimen 2. Both groups had a mean age of 20-39 years. At the end of therapy, the recovery rate with regimen 2 was 95.6% (237 patients), whereas regimen one showed a recovery rate of 91.2% (226 patients) (p=0.047).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study showed acyclovir plus prednisolone to be more effective than prednisolone alone in the treatment of Bell`s palsy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Yahyanejad Hospital, Babol Medical Sciences University, 471466855, Babol, Iran. Tel. +98 11122225035. Fax. +98 1112290141. E-mail: alijanahmadiahangar@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Alijan A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Ahangar
authors.forename: Seydreza
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hosseini
authors.forename: Roshanak
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Saghebi