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ENT

Electrophysiological Testing of the Facial Nerve

Built from Haynes-Glasscock-Shambaugh Surgery of the Ear, Seventh Edition

What’s inside

9 sections · 76 slides

  1. 01

    Overview

    • Scope of this topic

    1 slide

  2. 02

    Clinical background

    • Idiopathic facial palsy
    • Paresis versus complete paralysis
    • Who should be tested

    3 slides

  3. 03

    Classification of neural injury

    • Seddon and Sunderland schemes
    • First degree injury: neuropraxia
    • Second degree injury: axonotmesis
    • Third to fifth degree injury: neurotmesis
    • Endoneurial integrity and synkinesis
    • Sunderland degrees of neural injury and recovery groups
    • Peripheral nerve in cross section
    • Limits of injury classification in practice

    8 slides

  4. 04

    Wallerian degeneration

    • Wallerian degeneration as the test substrate
    • Axon fragmentation distal to nerve injury
    • Consequences for test selection

    3 slides

  5. 05

    Historical development

    • Early electrical stimulation of the facial nerve
    • Obstacles to electrodiagnosis
    • Facial nerve within the petrous temporal bone
    • Topognostic testing
    • From excitability testing to electroneurography

    5 slides

  6. 06

    Electroneurography

    • Principle of electroneurography
    • Electroneurography as evoked electromyography
    • Recording electrode technique
    • Consequences of fixed recording electrodes
    • Calculating percent degeneration
    • CMAP amplitude and conducting fibres
    • Test-retest reliability
    • Surface electrode recording of muscle potentials
    • What electroneurography cannot detect
    • Fisch and Esslen degeneration threshold
    • Revised threshold in Bell's palsy
    • Prognosis below the degeneration threshold
    • Rate of degeneration and injury severity
    • Time course of neural degeneration after complete paralysis
    • Interpreting serial electroneurography
    • Timing of the first study
    • Serial testing algorithm in acute paralysis
    • The surgical decompression decision
    • Situations where electroneurography is invalid
    • Deblocking
    • Early deblocking and its surgical implication
    • Aetiologies without proven ENoG prognostic value

    22 slides

  7. 07

    Electromyography

    • Principle of electromyography
    • Needle electromyography technique
    • Fibrillation potentials
    • Timing of electromyographic changes
    • Complementary timing of ENoG and EMG
    • Electromyography in the acute phase
    • Polyphasic potentials and reinnervation
    • Chronic paralysis and muscle atrophy
    • Electromyography and reanimation planning
    • Grafting the neuromuscular unit

    10 slides

  8. 08

    Nerve excitability and maximum stimulation tests

    • Nerve excitability test
    • Interpretation of nerve excitability testing
    • Maximum stimulation test
    • Prognostic value of maximum stimulation testing
    • Why ENoG supplanted NET and MST
    • Facial nerve in the facial canal

    6 slides

  9. 09

    Putting the tests together

    • Sequence of testing in acute complete paralysis
    • Roles of the tests by phase of illness
    • Key numerical thresholds
    • Conclusions
    • References
    • References (continued)
    • References (continued)
    • References (continued)
    • Haynes-Glasscock-Shambaugh Surgery of the Ear, Seventh Edition
    • Join our WhatsApp groups

    10 slides