Evaluation of short-term surgical outcomes in facial paralysis patients treated by trigeminal neurotization.

UNLABELLED: The management of patients with facial nerve palsy is a challenge of modern neurosurgery. The study purpose was to evaluate the degree of facial nerve function recovery, following trigeminal neurotization. Trigeminal neurotization was performed in 23 patients within 1 to 10 months after the development of facial paralysis. In most cases, the cause of facial paralysis was surgery for space-occupying lesions of the cerebellopontine angle (95.6%). Outcomes of trigeminal neurotization were evaluated in 17 (73.9%) patients who were followed-up for more than 6 months. In 16 (94.1%) patients, the facial nerve function was recovered to a House-Brackmann grade III-IV. Given the surgery

RESULTS: we can say that trigeminal neurotization is one of the effective treatments for facial paralysis. In most cases, this technique has provided good outcomes without additional complications, which is important for this group of patients.