The Clinical Utility of Hand Sympathetic Skin Response in Bell's Palsy

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the correlation between the severity of paralysis and hand sympathetic skin response (SSR) in patients with Bell's palsy and to evaluate the clinical utility of hand SSR as a predicting factor of prognosis. METHOD: Twenty patients with Bell's palsy and twenty normal controls were recruited. The severity of paralysis was graded according to House-Brackmann Facial Grading Scale (H-B FGS), and percent degeneration of Nasalis was determined by Facial Nerve Conduction Study (FNCS). RESULTS: The difference of hand SSR amplitude between affected and unaffected side was significant (p<0.05). There was significant correlation between H-B FGS and the difference of hand SSR amplitude (p<0.05). There was significant correlation between percent degeneration and the difference of hand SSR amplitude (p<0.05). There were significant correlations between the difference of hand SSR amplitude at 5 days and percent degeneration at 9 and 14 days (p=0.026, p=0.001). CONCLUSION: The difference of hand SSR amplitude between affected and unaffected side was useful for the indication of the severity of paralysis. And, hand SSR would be useful for an early prognostic predictor in Bell's palsy.