The Possible Role of Vascular Changes in the Aetiology of Bell's Palsy

Vascularisation of the geniculate ganglion

“…We found 99.8 microvessels on average in each microscopic field, what is more than in some reports, in which the mean value was 8.5 vessels per field [6]. Some other authors [11], who used a cooper mesh with 200 squares (each measuring 1/200 part of an inch), found 12 vessels per square.…”

“…Only El-Khouly et al [12] found a very small MMA in one specimen, which ended in the petrosal branch, while Clarke [11] noticed a petrosal vessel to arise from an accessory MMA. Anyway, ligation of the MMA or embolisation of the maxillary artery for epistaxis, or administration of an anticancer drug into the maxillary artery, may compromise the circulation through the petrosal branch, and thus cause the facial nerve palsy [6,18].…”

“…Since the knowledge about the ganglion vasculature can be important in relation to the haemangioma, Bell's palsy, ganglionitis, geniculate neuralgia and, especially, to the microsurgical interventions in the petrous and surroundings regions [3,6,10,12,19], we decided to examine the source of the ganglion supply, the microanatomical features of the efferent ganglionic vessels, and the intraganglionic vascular network.…”

Facial motor nuclei cell loss with intratemporal facial nerve crush injuries in rats

“…3 The labyrinthine segment of the nerve is also vulnerable to ischemia due to its lack of an anastomotic arterial supply in this area. 4 The labyrinthine portion of the nerve is thought to be the site of a compression injury to the nerve in Bell's palsy, 5,6 which occurs in 20 to 32 persons per 100,000 per year and accounts for approximately two thirds of all causes of facial nerve paralysis. 7,8 The complete differential diagnosis of the other one third of potential causes of facial nerve paralysis is extensive and includes infectious, inflammatory, traumatic, congenital, iatrogenic, vascular, and neoplastic disorders.…”

An Animal Model of Ischemic Facial Palsy

“…Ischemia of the facial nerve (FN) in the intratemporal course is thought to be one of the possible etiological factors in facial palsy [1] . The intratemporal portion of the FN receives its blood supply from 3 major sources: the internal auditory artery, the petrosal branch of the middle meningeal artery (the so-called petrosal artery) and the stylomastoid artery [2] .…”