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Among inpatients with facial diplegia,one-half(22 patients)had benign, self-limited causes including Bell's palsy,(10),Guillain-Barre syndrome (5),multiple idiopathic cranial neuropathies(3)brainstem encephalitis(2), Miller Fisher syndrome(1),and association with benign intracranial hypertension(1).Nine patients had tumors;four meningeal,three prepontine and two intrapontine.Syphilis(2 patients),Hansen's disease(1),cryptococcal meningitis with AIDS(1),and tuberculous meningitis(1)constituted those with an infectious etiology while miscellaneous causes include one patient each with diabetes,sarcoidosis,head trauma,pontine tegmental hemorrhage, undiagnosed Mobius syndrome in an adult,systemic lupus erythematosus with severe neuropathy,and slowly progressive degeneration-possibly bulbospinal neuronopathy.Bilaterality makes facial neuropathy a more ominous sign with widely varying causes that require prompt investigation. |
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