Therapeutic approach and recovery options in traumatic caused intratemporal facial paralysis of children

Abstract

TFacial nerve paralysis is one of the most feared complications of otologic surgery; the surgeon must always be prepared to recognize and solve such lesions if they occur. The authors present 2 clinical cases of intratemporal lesions of the facial nerve; in one of these we performed early neurografting of the facial nerve, in the second one we performed delayed decompression of the nerve. Facial nerve paralysis with early onset after otologic surgery needs timely exploration (via ENoG) and repair – this is always an emergency, the earlier the exploration the better the outcome; there are a variety of surgical methods for facial nerve repair, according to the type of lesion and its duration. Postoperatively the patient should be carefully monitored both clinically and by electromiography. Generally, posttraumatic facial nerve paralysis evolves better in children, compared to adult age.

Keywords

• posttraumatic facial nerve paralysis
• electromyography
• neurografting of the facial nerve