The Journal of Laryngology & Otology

Table of Contents - August 2012 - Volume 126, Issue 08  

Clinical Records

Differential diagnosis of recurrent or bilateral peripheral facial palsy

D M Oosterveera1 c1, C P Bénita2 and E L L M de Schryvera3

a1 Sophia Rehabilitation Centre, Delft, The Netherlands

a2 Department of Neurology, Westeinde Hospital, The Hague, The Netherlands

a3 Department of Neurology, Rijnland Hospital, Leiderdorp, The Netherlands

Abstract

Objective: To describe the differential diagnosis of recurrent or bilateral peripheral facial palsy.

Method: Case report and literature review.

Results: Two patients with recurrent, alternating, peripheral facial palsy are described. In both patients, additional investigation was performed to search for a specific diagnosis. In the first patient, only a positive family history was found, indicating a possible familial susceptibility. In the other patient, diabetes mellitus and hypertension were identified as risk factors.

Conclusion: There is an important and extensive differential diagnosis of recurrent or bilateral facial palsy. However, in a large proportion of patients the cause remains unknown.

(Accepted November 03 2011)

Key words

Correspondence:

c1 Address for correspondence: Dr D M Oosterveer, Sophia Rehabilitation Centre, Reinier de Graafweg 1, 2625 AD Delft, The Netherlands Fax: +31 15 27 80 219 E-mail: dmoosterveer@hotmail.com

Footnotes

Dr D M Oosterveer takes responsibility for the integrity of the content of the paper

Competing interests: None declared

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