Aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of early physiotherapy in patients with facial dysfunction after vestibular schwannoma (VS) surgery.
Methods: The patients who underwent a gross total VS resection by retrosigmoid procedure between 2015-2018 were retrospectively evaluated. Demographic data, neurological examination findings, and histopathological examination reports were obtained from the medical registry. The facial nerve injury was assessed using the House – Brackmann rating scale. All patients underwent massage in the early postoperative period to induce hyperemia in the mimic muscles and to preserve muscle tone. Electrical stimulation was applied to electrical stimulation of impaired nerve conduction and to preserve muscle mass. In addition, 5 minutes per day, 3 MHz frequency ultrasound was applied. Postoperatively, all patients were followed up by clinical examination at 1.3, 6 months, and control MRI at 3 months.
Results: Early postoperative facial nerve function of the patients was 2.9 (range: 2-5) and the mean facial nerve function was 2.3 (range: 1-4), 2.1 (range: 1) and 1.8 (range: 1-4) at the 1st month, 3rd month and 6th month controls, respectively. In patients who developed facial paralysis after vestibular schwannoma resection, early postoperative and 6th month control facial nerve functions were significantly improved (p = 0.001).
Conclusion: The results of our study show that it is effective in recovering facial nerve function losses after VS resection with early physiotherapy.
Primary Language | Turkish |
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Subjects | Clinical Sciences |
Journal Section | Articles |
Authors | |
Publication Date | December 31, 2019 |
Acceptance Date | December 5, 2019 |
Published in Issue | Year 2019 Issue: 9 |
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)