Towards evidence-based emergency medicine: best BETs from the Manchester Royal Infirmary. BET 2: Treatment of Bell's palsy: should antiviral agents be added to prednisolone?

A short-cut review was carried out to establish whether Bell's palsy is best treated with a combination of prednisolone and an antiviral agent or prednisolone alone. Four systematic reviews and two small studies were directly relevant to the question. The author, date and country of publication, patient group studied, study type, relevant outcomes, results and study weaknesses of these papers are tabulated. The clinical bottom line is that there is insufficient evidence to recommend an antiviral agent in addition to prednisolone in the treatment of Bell's palsy.