title: Overview of pediatric peripheral facial nerve paralysis: analysis of 40 patients.
abstract: Peripheral facial nerve paralysis in children might be an alarming sign of serious disease such as malignancy, systemic disease, congenital anomalies, trauma, infection, middle ear surgery, and hypertension. The cases of 40 consecutive children and adolescents who were diagnosed with peripheral facial nerve paralysis at Baskent University Adana Hospital Pediatrics and Pediatric Neurology Unit between January 2010 and January 2013 were retrospectively evaluated. We determined that the most common cause was Bell palsy, followed by infection, tumor lesion, and suspected chemotherapy toxicity. We noted that younger patients had generally poorer outcome than older patients regardless of disease etiology. Peripheral facial nerve paralysis has been reported in many countries in America and Europe; however, knowledge about its clinical features, microbiology, neuroimaging, and treatment in Turkey is incomplete. The present study demonstrated that Bell palsy and infection were the most common etiologies of peripheral facial nerve paralysis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Baskent University Faculty of Medicine, Adana, Turkey dryaseminozkale@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Yasemin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Özkale
authors.affiliation: Division of Child Neurology, Department of Pediatrics, Baskent University Faculty of Medicine, Adana, Turkey.
authors.forename: İlknur
authors.initials: İ
authors.lastname: Erol
authors.affiliation: Division of Child Neurology, Department of Pediatrics, Baskent University Faculty of Medicine, Adana, Turkey.
authors.forename: Semra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Saygı
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Baskent University Faculty of Medicine, Adana, Turkey.
authors.forename: İsmail
authors.initials: İ
authors.lastname: Yılmaz
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005158:Facial Paralysis / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D010523:Peripheral Nervous System Diseases / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D015898:Tomography Scanners, X-Ray Computed; D014421:Turkey
keywords: Bell palsy; Lyme disease; child; peripheral facial nerve paralysis