Nerve Excitability Tests In Facial Paralysis

Introduction  IT is generally believed that the decision as to the therapeutic approach to be adopted in patients with peripheral facial paralysis will be greatly facilitated if the severity of the conductive disorder can be established in an early stage after the onset of paralysis. In any individual case of paralysis, especially complete paralysis, therefore, two concrete questions are to be answered as early as possible: (1) Is this paralysis still in a reversible stage (reversible conduction block), or is the nerve already degenerated? (2) In case the paralysis is still in a reversible stage, which signs (if any) are to be feared as heralding an imminent or incipient unfavorable development?From publications by Cawthorne,³ Jongkees,^11,12 Kettel,¹³ Taverner,¹⁹ and many others, as well as from our own study (Laumans^16,17), we know that on the basis of clinical examination alone the above-mentioned questions cannot be answered.