Main Article Content

A review of 250 cases of bell's palsy


J.F. Jarvis

Abstract

Two hundred and fifty cases of Bell's palsy seen at the ENT Department of Groote Schuur Hospital are reviewed. The most important findings which emerge are the greater incidence in women, many of whom are in the third trimester of pregnancy; pain in or around the ear, and depression or loss of electrical response in the affected muscles-which are both of bad prognostic significance; and permanent sequelae, many of only minor degree, which remain in about one-third of all complete palsies, unless prednisolone is administered within a week of onset in which case the incidence of sequelae is greatly reduced, An earlier plea for the referral of such a case as an emergency to a centre especially interested in the diagnosis and treatment of this condition, is repeated.

S Afr. Med. J., 48, 593 (1974).

Journal Identifiers


eISSN: 2078-5135
print ISSN: 0256-9574