Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 July 2012
To assess the feasibility of temporal bone magnetic resonance imaging for evaluating the severity and prognosis of idiopathic acute facial nerve palsy.
Forty-four patients with idiopathic acute facial nerve palsy who had undergone gadolinium-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging were selected retrospectively. The degree of radiological facial nerve enhancement was determined using quantitative analysis (with region-of-interest measurements for separate facial nerve segments) and using subjective visual analysis. The clinical severity of facial nerve palsy was then correlated with the degree of facial nerve enhancement.
The visually determined degree of facial nerve enhancement did not correlate significantly with the House–Brackmann grade at either the early or late stages (p > 0.05). Results using the region-of-interest system were similar (p > 0.05).
Temporal bone magnetic resonance imaging is not essential for patients with acute facial nerve palsy.