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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Indian Journal of Neurosurgery 2020; 9(03): 183-185
DOI: 10.1055/s-0039-1697999
Short Communication

Bilateral Facial Nerve Palsy following Head Injury: A Report of Two Uncommon Cases

Humam Nisar Tanki
1   Department of Neurosurgery, Super Specialty Hospital, Government Medical College, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India
,
Shafeeq Alam Syed
1   Department of Neurosurgery, Super Specialty Hospital, Government Medical College, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India
,
Sobiya Bilal
1   Department of Neurosurgery, Super Specialty Hospital, Government Medical College, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India
,
Nazish Aslam Chisti
1   Department of Neurosurgery, Super Specialty Hospital, Government Medical College, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India
,
Afzal Wani
1   Department of Neurosurgery, Super Specialty Hospital, Government Medical College, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India
,
Javeid Sheikh
1   Department of Neurosurgery, Super Specialty Hospital, Government Medical College, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India
,
Qawnain Kirmani Syed
1   Department of Neurosurgery, Super Specialty Hospital, Government Medical College, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India
,
Umar Bachh
1   Department of Neurosurgery, Super Specialty Hospital, Government Medical College, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India
,
Zia Ul Haque
2   Department of Radiodiagnosis, Government Medical College, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India
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Abstract

Bilateral facial nerve palsy (FNP) following head injury without any brain parenchymal injury or brain stem injury is quite an uncommon presentation. We came across two baffling cases of head trauma in which the patients developed simultaneous bilateral lower motor FNPs without any significant findings in initial brain scans which would suggest the pathophysiology for such a condition. Both the cases were found to be having longitudinal fractures of the temporal bone leading to injury of the facial nerves bilaterally. After conservative management, both the cases showed appreciable neurological improvement on follow-up. Hence, although bilateral FNP can be a diagnostic dilemma, it is quite possible to precisely localize the site of injury and successfully treat it.

Keywords

bilateral facial nerve palsy - temporal bone fracture - House and Brackmann


Publication History

Article published online:
05 March 2020

© 2020. Neurological Surgeons’ Society of India. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial-License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

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