Background: A large number of patients with Bell’s palsy fail to recover facial function completely after steroid therapy. Only a few small trials have been conducted to test whether outcomes can be improved by the addition of antiviral therapy.
Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of treatment with steroid alone versus steroid + antiviral in a group of patients with moderately severe to severe acute Bell’s palsy.
Methods: Fifty eligible patients out of a total of 65 with acute onset Bell’s palsy were randomized to receive the two treatments. Evaluation was performed before starting treatment, after 2 weeks of treatment and 3 months after onset, using the House and Brackmann facial nerve grading system (HB) and the Sunnybrook grading system.
This study was registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT02328079.
Results: Both treatments had comparable demographics and clinical scores at baseline. There was greater improvement in the mean HB and Sunnybrook scores of the steroid + antiviral group in comparison to steroid group at 3 months. At the end of the 3rd month, 17 patients (68%) had good recovery and 8 patients (32%) had poor recovery in the steroid group compared with 23 patients (92%) and 2 (8%) respectively in the steroid and antiviral group (p = 0.034).
Conclusion: The combination of steroid and antiviral treatment increases the possibility of recovery in moderately severe to complete acute Bell’s palsy.
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