A comparison between prednisolone and prednisolone combined with valacyclovir in treating bell’s palsy
NIU Chunsheng
Abstract：Objectives To compare the efficacy of prednisolone and prednisolone combined with valaci-clovir in treating Bell’s palsy. Methods Patients (n=280) seen in our outpatient clinic between January 2010 and January 2013 (aged 18–75 years and treated within 72 h of palsy onset) were divided randomly to receive prednisolone alone (n=140) or prednisolone combined with valacyclovir (n=140). Of them, 254 patients com-pleted a 12-month follow-up. Facial nerve function was assessed using the Sunnybrook grading scale at base-line and at12 months. Complete recovery was defined as Sunnybrook score=100. Results In patients with se-vere palsy, the rate of recovery at 12 months was 52%with prednisolone treatment versus 53.8%with the com-bined treatment (P>0.05). The rate was 69.8% versus 68.3% (P>0.05) for patients with moderate palsy, and 83.3%versus 84.7%(P>0.05) for those with mild palsy. For patients with severe palsy at baseline, the rate of synkinesis at 12 months was 40%in the prednisolone group and 42.3%in the combined treatment group, re-spectively, for patients with severe palsy (P>0.05); 23.3% and 22%, respectively, for patients with moderate palsy (P>0.05);and 5%and 5.1%, respectively, for those with mild palsy (P>0.05). Conclusions Compared to prednisolone treatment alone, combined treatment with prednisolone and valaciclovir does not appear to in-crease recovery of palsy or to reduce the rate of synkinesis regardless of palsy severity at baseline.
Keywords：Bell’s palsyprednisolonevalaciclovirSunnybrook grading scalecombined treatment
Publication Date：2015-01-01
Online Publishing Date：2025-08-15(First online date of this platform, not the publication date of the document)
Pages：3( 519-521 )