Conclusion: Delayed facial palsy after tympanoplasty had no predisposition for gender or side. It seemed that prednisolone alone without antiviral drugs was enough for the treatment of delayed facial palsy after tympanoplasty.
Objective: To analyze the clinical characteristics and prognosis of delayed facial palsy after tympanoplasty.
Methods: The cases with delayed facial palsy after tympanoplasty treated from January 2005 to January 2014 at our hospital were included in the study, and their clinical characteristics and outcomes were analyzed.
Results: The incidence of delayed facial palsy after tympanoplasty was 1.1% (16/1420 cases). Facial palsy occurred between 5 and 14 days (average 7.4 ± 1.8 days) after surgery. The incidence of delayed facial palsy was not different between males and females (p > 0.05). Also there was no significant difference between left and right side (p > 0.05). All patients were treated by prednisolone alone, and their facial nerve recovered to HB grade I after 3 weeks to 2 months without any sequelae.
Keywords: HSV-1; facial nerve recovery; prednisolone; virus reactivation.