Validation of the Clinician-Graded Electronic Facial Paralysis Assessment.

BACKGROUND: Facial paralysis remains a debilitating condition despite advances in medical, surgical, and adjunctive interventions. Established grading systems used to assess facial paralysis and interventional outcomes have well-described limitations. The Electronic Facial Paralysis Assessment, a clinician-graded zone-based facial function scale, has recently emerged as a grading tool that may provide greater sensitivity when assessing incomplete paralysis and postsurgical improvement. The authors perform the first comprehensive validation of this tool. METHODS: Video recordings of 83 facial paralysis patients were assessed. Grading was performed in two sittings by three individuals with varying degrees of experience in assessing facial paralysis. Interobserver reliability; intraobserver reliability; administration time; and agreement with the Facial Disability Index, House-Brackmann, Sunnybrook, and Sydney facial grading systems were assessed. RESULTS: The Electronic Facial Paralysis Assessment demonstrated high intra observer and interobserver reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient, 0.84 to 0.91 and 0.81 to 0.83, respectively). It correlated well with the House-Brackmann, Sunnybrook, and Sydney facial grading systems (Spearman rho, 0.73, 0.77 and 0.77, respectively). In subdomain analysis, it correlated well with the Sunnybrook and Sydney systems in dynamic movement (Spearman rho, 0.90 and 0.89, respectively) and synkinesis (Spearman rho, range 0.74 and 0.72, respectively). It had poor agreement with the Facial Disability Index (Spearman rho, 0.25). The mean time to complete the tool was 116 ± 61 seconds. CONCLUSIONS: The Electronic Facial Paralysis Assessment is a valid facial assessment tool with high reliability and correlation with the established facial paralysis grading systems. It also provides an efficient and detailed analysis of paralysis according to each facial zone. CLINICAL QUESTION/LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Diagnostic, II.

Bilateral conjugacy of movement initiation is retained at the eye but not at the mouth following long-term unilateral facial nerve palsy.

Voluntary eyelid closure and smiling were studied in 11 normal subjects and 11 patients with long-term unilateral facial nerve palsy (FNP). The conjugacy of eyelid movements shown previously for blinks was maintained for voluntary eye closures in normal subjects, with movement onset being synchronous in both eyes. Bilateral onset synchrony of the sides of the mouth was also observed in smiling movements in normal subjects. In FNP patients, initiation of movement of the paretic and non-paretic eyelids was also synchronous, but markedly delayed relative to normal (by 136 ms = 32%). The initiation of bilateral movements at the mouth was similarly delayed, but in contrast to the eyes, it was not synchronous. Central neural processing in the FNP subjects was normal, however, since unilateral movements at the mouth were not delayed. The delays therefore point to considerable additional information processing needed for initiating bilateral facial movements after FNP. The maintenance of bilateral onset synchrony in eyelid closure and its loss in smiling following FNP is an important difference in the neural control of these facial regions. Bilateral conjugacy of eyelid movements is probably crucial for coordinating visual input and was achieved apparently without conscious effort on the part of the patients. Bilateral conjugacy of movements at the sides of the mouth may be less critical for normal function, although patients would very much like to achieve it in order to improve the appearance of their smile. Since the everyday frequency of eyelid movements is considerably greater than that of smiling, it is possible that the preserved eyelid conjugacy in these patients with long-term FNP is merely a product of greater experience. However, if synchrony of movement onset is found to be preserved in patients with acute FNP, then it would suggest that eyelid conjugacy has a privileged status in the neural organisation of the face.

Physiotherapy rehabilitation of the smile after long-term facial nerve palsy using video self-modeling and implementation intentions.

OBJECTIVE: To improve smiling after long-term facial nerve palsy (FNP). Physiotherapy rehabilitation of an adapted (more symmetrical) smile was investigated in FNP subjects 1 year post-onset, using video self-modeling (video replay of only best adapted smiles) and implementation intentions (preplanning adapted smiles for specific situations). STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING: Prospective, blinded clinical trial. Facial-Nerve-Palsy Clinic. RESULTS: After video self-modeling: 1) reaction time (RT) to initiation of adapted smiles became 224 ms faster whereas RT for everyday (asymmetrical) smiles became 153 ms slower; 2) adapted smiles were completed 544 ms faster; 3) adapted smiles had higher overall quality, movement control, and symmetry ratings; and 4) Facial Disability Index scores also improved. Implementation intentions after video self-modeling ensured transfer of adapted smile to everyday situations. CONCLUSION: Following intervention the smile improved, with significant changes in availability, execution speed, and quality. SIGNIFICANCE: This study supports these rehabilitation techniques to maximize quality of smiling following FNP. EBM RATING: B-2b.

Reliability of the "Sydney," "Sunnybrook," and "House Brackmann" facial grading systems to assess voluntary movement and synkinesis after facial nerve paralysis.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the extent of within-system reliability and between-system correlation for the "Sydney" and "Sunnybrook" systems of grading facial nerve paralysis, and to examine the interobserver reliability and agreement of the "House Brackmann" grading system. STUDY DESIGN: A fixed-effects reliability study in which 6 otolaryngologists viewed videotapes of patients with facial nerve paralysis. SETTING: University and medical Centers. PATIENTS: Patients with unilateral lower motor neurone facial nerve dysfunction greater than 1 year after onset, none of whom had undergone surgical reanimation procedures. Intervention Twenty-one patients with facial nerve paralysis were videotaped while they performed a protocol of facial movements. Six otolaryngologists viewed the videotapes and scored them with the Sydney and Sunnybrook systems, and then gave a House Brackmann grade. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: The 3 systems of grading facial nerve paralysis were evaluated and compared with the use of intraclass correlation coefficients, Pearson's weighted kappa, and percentage exact agreement values. RESULTS: The Sydney and the Sunnybrook systems had good intrasystem reliability and high intersystem association for the assessment of voluntary movement. Grading of synkinesis was found to have low reliability both within and between systems. The House Brackmann system had substantial reliability as shown by weighted kappa but had a percentage exact agreement of 44%. CONCLUSIONS: For clinical grading of voluntary movement, there is good correlation between ratings given on the Sydney and Sunnybrook systems, and within each system there is good reliability. The assessment of synkinesis was far less reliable within, and less related between, systems. Although the reliability of the House Brackmann system was found to be high, examination of individual grades revealed some wide variation between trained observers.

Expression of emotion and quality of life after facial nerve paralysis.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the facial expression of emotion and quality of life in patients after long-term facial nerve paralysis. STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional. SETTING: Facial nerve paralysis clinic. PATIENTS: Twenty-four patients with facial nerve paralysis and 24 significant others (partner, relative, friend). INTERVENTION: Patients were assessed using Sunnybrook, Sydney, and House-Brackmann grading scales and SF-36, Glasgow Benefit Inventory, and Facial Disability Index quality-of-life measures. RESULTS: When patients identified themselves as either effective or not effective at facially communicating each of Ekman's primary emotions (happiness, disgust, surprise, anger, sadness, and fear), 50% classified themselves as not effective at expressing one or more of the six emotions. Significant others of the not effective patients rated the emotions as more difficult for their partner-patients to communicate facially than did the significant others of effective patients. The SF-36 quality-of-life survey revealed lower social functioning relative to physical functioning for not effective patients. From the Sunnybrook Facial Grading System, more synkinesis was found for those patients not effective at expressing happiness, less brow and eye movement for patients not effective at expressing sadness, and less voluntary movement for those not effective with surprise. CONCLUSION: Movement deficits associated with expressing specific emotions and an association with quality-of-life measures were identified in patients with long-term facial nerve paralysis who saw themselves as not effective at facial expression of emotions. To improve management of emotional expression in patients with facial nerve paralysis, a broader approach is recommended, linking the practitioner's treatment goals with patient-driven outcome goals.

Three-dimensional quantification of the symmetry of normal facial movement.

OBJECTIVE: This study examined the right to left symmetry of the displacement of three-dimensional movement of the human face. METHODS: Displacement data on 42 subjects was collected and analyzed with the Expert Vision Motion Analysis System. Right and left three-dimensional facial displacements were quantified. RESULTS: Significantly greater left than right three-dimensional displacement across the whole face was measured. The three-dimensional displacement difference ranged from 0.48 mm to 2.28 mm between the right and left sides of the face. The 2-cm inferior pupil markers during the nose wrinkle expression had significantly greater left than right displacement. CONCLUSION: The ranges of displacement differences, along with the mean three-dimensional displacement measures, must be accounted for in the creation of a baseline of the range of normal facial movement.