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Is facial nerve palsy an early manifestation of COVID-19? A literature review

2022; Elsevier BV; Volume: 364; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/j.amjms.2022.04.010

1538-2990

Mehrdad Estakhr, Reza Tabrizi, Zahra Ghotbi, Saeed Shahabi, Adrina Habibzadeh, Ali Bashi, Afshin Borhani‐Haghighi,

Retinal and Optic Conditions

The primary target of SARS-CoV-2 is the respiratory tract; nevertheless, the virus can invade extrapulmonary organs, such as the nervous system. Peripheral facial nerve palsy has been reported in COVID-19 cases as isolated, unilateral, or bilateral in the context of Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS). In the present study, online databases, including PubMed and Google Scholar, were searched. Studies without focusing on isolated peripheral facial nerve palsy and SARS-CoV-2 were excluded. Finally, 36 patients with facial nerve palsy were included in our study using reverse transcriptase–polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) or antibody SARS-CoV-2 positive test. Interestingly, 23 (63.8%) of these patients had no typical history of COVID-19, and facial nerve palsy was their first clinical manifestation. The present study concludes that there is enough evidence to suggest that SARS-CoV-2 infection may present with facial nerve palsy as the initial clinical manifestation.