[Outcome of treatment 46 patients with Bell's palsy with aciclovir and prednisone]

Abstract

Purpose: To evaluate the outcome of treatment with an antiviral drug in combination with corticosteroids in patients with Bell's palsy.

Methods: 46 patients with Bell's palsy were randomly divided into two groups, aciclovir and prednisone group (A+P group, n=23) and prednisone group (P group, n=23). The patients in A+P group were treated with 0.4g of aciclovir tablets 3 times per day for 5 days and 50 mg of prednisone daily for 5 days, and the patients in P group were treated with 50 mg of prednisone daily for 5 days, and then the dosage of prednisone was reduced by 20 mg per two days for the next 10 days. Facial nerve function index (FNFI) was used as a evaluating method of the outcome.

Results: 12 patients (52.1%) in the A+P group recovered completely (FNFI=1), as compared with 5 patients (21.7%) in the P group (P<0.05) after treatment three weeks, and 21 patients (91.3%) in the A+P group comparing with 18 patients (78.3%) in the P group (P>0.05) after treatment four weeks.

Conclusions: The study showed a significantly better outcome in the patients with Bell's palsy treated with aciclovir and predisone as compared with the patient given prednisone treatment without serious complications.