Endoscopic transcanal facial nerve decompression in traumatic facial nerve palsy: A case series

Abstract

Temporal bone fractures contribute to 7%–10% of patients suffering from facial nerve (FN) palsy.Traumatic facial paralysis is the most common cause of lower motor neuron facial paralysis, accounting for about 17% of its incidence. Temporal bone fractures contribute to 7%–10% of patients suffering from facial nerve (FN) palsy. The proximal tympanic segment of FN is most commonly affected in such cases. The classical microscopic surgeries for pathologies involving the FN, such as transmastoid approach, middle cranial fossa approach, and translabyrinthine approach, are associated with several disadvantages. The endoscopic transcanal approach is a minimally invasive surgery that can be used mostly for a lesion limited to the tympanic segment of the FN. It provides sufficient exposure for nerve decompression as compared to other approaches. Clear endoscopic vision of the tympanic cavity is also achieved, which is beneficial to ossicular chain reconstruction. Moreover, it causes minimal surgical trauma. Operating time and postoperative hospital stay are also reduced. This technique is cosmetically more acceptable to the patient. In this article, we report three cases of posttraumatic FN palsy where we performed endoscopic transcanal nerve decompression. It resulted in dramatic improvement of the facial palsy from House–Brackmann Grade IV or Grade V to Grade II immediately following surgery. The outcome of FN decompression through this approach was found to be comparable to conventional approach.