The role of inflammation markers in predicting the prognosis of Bell's palsy

Year 2019, Volume: 5 Issue: 4, 629 - 635, 04.07.2019

Bülent Ulusoy , Kazım Bozdemir , Hayati Kale , Mehmet Hakan Korkmaz

https://doi.org/10.18621/eurj.404778

Cited By: 3

Abstract

Objectives: This study aimed to
investigate the relationship between the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte
ratio (NLR) and the platelet-to-lymphocyte
ratio (PLR) and Bell’s palsy in addition to the usability of these markers to
predict prognosis.

Methods: In this prospective study, the patient group included 24 patients that were
diagnosed with Bell’s palsy and 29 healthy volunteers that had similar
characteristics to them regarding age and gender with patient group as the
control group. The temporal gadolinium-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging
(TGd-MRI) was performed to all patients. The complete blood count was also obtained
from both the patient and the control groups, and these two groups were
compared for NLR and PLR, mean platelet volume (MPV), platelet distribution
width (PDW), and platelet count. The relationship between these markers and
Bell’s paralysis prognosis was also investigated.

Results: The patient and control groups were similar in age and gender (p > 0.05). NLR was significantly
higher in the patient group compared with the control group (p = 0.016). There was no correlation
between the NLR value and the prognosis of Bell’s Palsy. The PDW and white
blood cell count (WBC) were significantly higher in the patient group than the
control group (p = 0.023 and p = 0.012, respectively). A comparison
of the recovered and unrecovered patients revealed that the PDW value was
significantly higher and the platelet count was lower in the recovered patients
than the unrecovered patients (p = 0.009 and p = 0.003 respectively). The MPV value was higher in the recovered
patients, though not statistically significant (p = 0.063). Based on the cut-off values determined in the receiver
operator characteristic (ROC) curve analysis, a comparison of the recovered and
unrecovered patients reveals that the likelihood of not healing was significantly
higher in those that had normal PDW values (p
= 0.036). 

Keywords

Bell palsy, inflammation, mean platelet volume, prognosis, platelet activation, ROC curve, neutrophil

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