title: Electrical response grading versus House-Brackmann scale for evaluation of facial nerve injury after Bell's palsy: a comparative study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  There are no convenient techniques to evaluate the degree of facial nerve injury during a course of acupuncture treatment for Bell's palsy. Our previous studies found that observing the electrical response of specific facial muscles provided reasonable correlation with the prognosis of electroacupuncture treatment. Hence, we used the new method to evaluate the degree of facial nerve injury in patients with Bell's palsy in comparison with the House-Brackmann scale. The relationship between therapeutic effects and prognosis was analyzed to explore an objective method for evaluating Bell's palsy.
  
  
  METHODS
  The facial nerve function of 68 patients with Bell's palsy was assessed with both electrical response grading and the House-Brackmann scale before treatment. Then differences in evaluation results of the two methods were compared. All enrolled patients received electroacupuncture treatment with disperse-dense wave at 1/100 Hz for 4 weeks. After treatment, correlation analysis was conducted to find the relationship between electrical response and therapeutic effects or prognosis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Checking consistency between electrical response grading and House-Brackmann scale: Kappa value 0.028 (P = 0.578). Correlation analysis: the two methods were correlated with the prognosis, and electrical response grading (rER = 0.789) was better than the House-Brackmann scale (rHB = 0.423).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Electrical response grading is superior to the House-Brackmann scale in efficacy and reliability, and can conveniently assess the degree of facial nerve injury. The House-Brackmann scale is suitable for the patients with mild facial nerve injury, but its evaluation quality for severe facial nerve injury is poor.
authors: Department of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, General Hospital of Chinese PLA, Beijing, China.
authors: Bin
authors: B
authors: Huang
authors: Department of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, General Hospital of Chinese PLA, Beijing, China; E-mail: Zhouzhangling@sina.com.
authors: Zhang-ling
authors: ZL
authors: Zhou
authors: Department of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, General Hospital of Chinese PLA, Beijing, China.
authors: Li-li
authors: LL
authors: Wang
authors: Department of Microorganism, Center for Disease Prevention and Control, Zhoukou 466000, Henan Province, China.
authors: Cong
authors: C
authors: Zuo
authors: Department of Rehabilitation, Hainan Branch of General Hospital of Chinese PLA, Sanya 572014, Hainan Province, China.
authors: Yan
authors: Y
authors: Lu
authors: Department of Rehabilitation, Hainan Branch of General Hospital of Chinese PLA, Sanya 572014, Hainan Province, China.
authors: Yong
authors: Y
authors: Chen
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D020330:Bell Palsy / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000628:therapy; D015671:Electroacupuncture; D055724:Electrophysiological Phenomena; D005154:Facial Nerve / Q000503:physiopathology*; D020220:Facial Nerve Injuries / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000628:therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D020127:Recovery of Function; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D055815:Young Adult