title: Clinical practice guideline: Bell's Palsy executive summary.
abstract: The American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Foundation (AAO-HNSF) has published a supplement to this issue featuring the new Clinical Practice Guideline: Bell's Palsy. To assist in implementing the guideline recommendations, this article summarizes the rationale, purpose, and key action statements. The 11 recommendations developed encourage accurate and efficient diagnosis and treatment and, when applicable, facilitate patient follow-up to address the management of long-term sequelae or evaluation of new or worsening symptoms not indicative of Bell's palsy. There are myriad treatment options for Bell's palsy; some controversy exists regarding the effectiveness of several of these options, and there are consequent variations in care. In addition, there are numerous diagnostic tests available that are used in the evaluation of patients with Bell's palsy. Many of these tests are of questionable benefit in Bell's palsy. Furthermore, while patients with Bell's palsy enter the health care system with facial paresis/paralysis as a primary complaint, not all patients with facial paresis/paralysis have Bell's palsy. It is a concern that patients with alternative underlying etiologies may be misdiagnosed or have an unnecessary delay in diagnosis. All of these quality concerns provide an important opportunity for improvement in the diagnosis and management of patients with Bell's palsy.
authors.affiliation: University of Toledo Medical Center, Toledo, Ohio, USA.
authors.forename: Reginald F
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Baugh
authors.forename: Gregory J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Basura
authors.forename: Lisa E
authors.initials: LE
authors.lastname: Ishii
authors.forename: Seth R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Schwartz
authors.forename: Caitlin Murray
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Drumheller
authors.forename: Rebecca
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Burkholder
authors.forename: Nathan A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Deckard
authors.forename: Cindy
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Dawson
authors.forename: Colin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Driscoll
authors.forename: M Boyd
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Gillespie
authors.forename: Richard K
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Gurgel
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Halperin
authors.forename: Ayesha N
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Khalid
authors.forename: Kaparaboyna Ashok
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.forename: Alan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Micco
authors.forename: Debra
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Munsell
authors.forename: Steven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rosenbaum
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Vaughan
mesh_terms: D000047:Academies and Institutes; D020330:Bell Palsy / Q000628:therapy*; D019468:Disease Management; D006801:Humans; D010036:Otolaryngology / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D014481:United States
keywords: Bell’s palsy; facial nerve disorder; facial nerve pathophysiology; idiopathic facial nerve paralysis; idiopathic facial nerve paresis; otolaryngology