Bell’s palsy is facial paralysis which resulted from the damage of one or two facial nerves. This condition is occurs when the nerve that controls facial muscles is swollen, inflamed or compressed.

A meta-analysis made by the group of doctors from the University of Thessaloniki, Greece, showed that adding an antiviral agent to corticosteroids in treating Bell’s palsy does not improve the condition.

The researchers reviewed a total of five eligible studies involving 738 patients. Four of which involved 709 patients, including 358 taking corticosteroids and 351 taking combination therapy were included in the meta-analysis.

From EurekAlert:

Bell’s palsy is the most common cause of sudden facial paralysis, affecting an estimated 20 to 45 per 100,000 individuals per year, according to background information in the article. “The main clinical symptom of Bell’s palsy is facial motor dysfunction, the degree of which varies from minor weakness to complete paralysis depending on the amount of neural injury,” the authors write.

Current treatment choices for Bell’s palsy include corticosteroids, antiviral therapy or a combination of the two. John K. Goudakos, M.D., M.Sc., and Konstantinos D. Markou, M.D., Ph.D., of the University of Thessaloniki, Greece, identified randomized controlled trials comparing corticosteroids to combination therapy in patients with this condition published between 1996 and 2007.

“Additional well-designed randomized controlled trials are needed to assess the potential value of antiviral addition to the recovery of facial palsy with more confidence. However, based on the currently available evidence, the addition of an antiviral agent to corticosteroids for the treatment of patients with Bell’s palsy is not justified.”

The authors found out that the complete recovery rate of facial motor function after the initiation of therapy was not significantly different between the corticosteroids group and the combined therapy group. They concluded that corticosteroids are still the best choice of treatment.

Tags: antiviral agent, Bell’s palsy, corticosteroids

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