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Journal of Korean Medical Science Aug 2020This study reviews recent literature on facial palsy guidelines and provides systematic reviews on related topics of interest. (Meta-Analysis)
Meta-Analysis
BACKGROUND
This study reviews recent literature on facial palsy guidelines and provides systematic reviews on related topics of interest.
METHODS
An electronic database search was performed to identify recent guidelines dealing with facial nerve palsy, systematic reviews and recent meta-analysis published between 2011 and 2019 (inclusive). The literature search used the search terms "Bell's palsy," "Ramsay-Hunt syndrome," "Facial palsy," "Facial paralysis," "Facial paresis," "Guideline," "Meta-analysis," "Systematic review," and "Randomized controlled trial." Only studies written in English were used.
RESULTS
The characteristics of treatment trends for facial palsy have been reviewed over the past decade. The most prominent change noted may be the shift from the conventional House-Brackmann facial nerve grading system to the Sunnybrook and eFACE systems. In addition, the results of serial meta-analyses indicate increasing agreement with the use of surgical decompression of the facial nerve. Beyond steroids or combined steroid-antiviral treatment, various novel drugs and treatments have been tried. For long-standing facial paralysis and postparetic synkinesis sequelae after facial palsy, facial reanimation has been highlighted and the necessity of new paradigms have been raised.
CONCLUSION
For peripheral facial paralysis, various changes have been made, not only in the facial nerve grading systems, but also in medical treatments, from surgical procedures to rehabilitation, during the last decade.
Topics: Acupuncture Therapy; Acute Disease; Decompression, Surgical; Facial Nerve; Facial Paralysis; Humans; Practice Guidelines as Topic
PubMed: 32743989
DOI: 10.3346/jkms.2020.35.e245 -
Nature Nov 2022A spinal cord injury interrupts pathways from the brain and brainstem that project to the lumbar spinal cord, leading to paralysis. Here we show that spatiotemporal...
A spinal cord injury interrupts pathways from the brain and brainstem that project to the lumbar spinal cord, leading to paralysis. Here we show that spatiotemporal epidural electrical stimulation (EES) of the lumbar spinal cord applied during neurorehabilitation (EES) restored walking in nine individuals with chronic spinal cord injury. This recovery involved a reduction in neuronal activity in the lumbar spinal cord of humans during walking. We hypothesized that this unexpected reduction reflects activity-dependent selection of specific neuronal subpopulations that become essential for a patient to walk after spinal cord injury. To identify these putative neurons, we modelled the technological and therapeutic features underlying EES in mice. We applied single-nucleus RNA sequencing and spatial transcriptomics to the spinal cords of these mice to chart a spatially resolved molecular atlas of recovery from paralysis. We then employed cell type and spatial prioritization to identify the neurons involved in the recovery of walking. A single population of excitatory interneurons nested within intermediate laminae emerged. Although these neurons are not required for walking before spinal cord injury, we demonstrate that they are essential for the recovery of walking with EES following spinal cord injury. Augmenting the activity of these neurons phenocopied the recovery of walking enabled by EES, whereas ablating them prevented the recovery of walking that occurs spontaneously after moderate spinal cord injury. We thus identified a recovery-organizing neuronal subpopulation that is necessary and sufficient to regain walking after paralysis. Moreover, our methodology establishes a framework for using molecular cartography to identify the neurons that produce complex behaviours.
Topics: Animals; Humans; Mice; Neurons; Paralysis; Spinal Cord; Spinal Cord Injuries; Walking; Electric Stimulation; Lumbosacral Region; Neurological Rehabilitation; Sequence Analysis, RNA; Gene Expression Profiling
PubMed: 36352232
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-05385-7 -
Ideggyogyaszati Szemle Jul 2022The incidence of brachial plexus palsy (BPP) has decreased recently, but the indivi-d-ual's quality of life is endangered. To provide better chan-ces to BPP neonates and... (Review)
Review
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
The incidence of brachial plexus palsy (BPP) has decreased recently, but the indivi-d-ual's quality of life is endangered. To provide better chan-ces to BPP neonates and infants, the Department of Developmental Neurology worked out, introduced, and applied a complex early therapy, including nerve point stimulation.
METHODS
After diagnosing the severity of BPP, early intensive and complex therapy should be started. Appro-x-imately after a week or ten days following birth, the slightest form (neurapraxia) normalizes without any intervention, and signs of recovery can be detected around this period. The therapy includes the unipolar nerve point electro-stimulation and the regular application of those elemen-tary sensorimotor patterns, which activate both extremities simultaneously.
RESULTS
With the guideline worked out and applied in the Department of Developmental Neurology, full recovery can be achieved in 50% of the patients, and even in the most severe cases (nerve root lesion), functional upper limb usage can be detected with typically developing body-scheme.
CONCLUSION
Immediately starting complex treatment based on early diagnosis alters the outcome of BPP, providing recovery in the majority of cases and enhancing the everyday arm function of those who only partially benefit from the early treatment.
Topics: Brachial Plexus; Brachial Plexus Neuropathies; Early Diagnosis; Humans; Infant; Infant, Newborn; Neonatal Brachial Plexus Palsy; Paralysis; Quality of Life
PubMed: 35916611
DOI: 10.18071/isz.75.0247 -
JAMA Otolaryngology-- Head & Neck... Nov 2020Facial paralysis (FP) after surgery has substantial functional, emotional, and financial consequences. Most iatrogenic FP is managed by watchful waiting, with the...
IMPORTANCE
Facial paralysis (FP) after surgery has substantial functional, emotional, and financial consequences. Most iatrogenic FP is managed by watchful waiting, with the expectation of facial function recovery. A potential treatment is physical therapy (PT).
OBJECTIVE
To investigate whether noninvasive PT compared with no PT or other intervention improves facial nerve outcomes in adults with iatrogenic FP.
EVIDENCE REVIEW
Patients with noniatrogenic FP, facial reanimation surgery, and invasive adjunctive treatments (acupuncture or botulinum toxin injection) were excluded. A systematic review was conducted for records discussing iatrogenic FP and PT; a search for these records was performed using Ovid MEDLINE (1946-2019), Embase (1947-2019), Scopus (1823-2019), Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, World Health Organization International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (2004-2019), and ClinicalTrials.gov (1997-2019). The references of all the included articles were also assessed for eligible studies. All human participant, English-language study designs with at least 2 cases were included. Quality assessment was performed using the Methodological Index for Non-randomized Studies (MINORS) and the revised Cochrane Risk of Bias 2 (RoB 2) tool for randomized controlled trials. All search strategies were completed on May 16, 2019, and again on October 1, 2019.
FINDINGS
Fifteen studies (7 of which were retrospective cohort studies) and 313 patients with iatrogenic FP were included in the systematic review. Most iatrogenic FP (166 patients [53%]) was associated with parotidectomy; traditional PT (ie, facial massage) was the most common intervention (196 patients [63%]). The use of various facial grading systems and inconsistent reporting of outcomes prevented direct comparison of PT types.
CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE
Because of heterogeneity in reported outcomes of facial nerve recovery, definitive conclusions were unable to be made regarding the association between PT and outcomes of iatrogenic FP. Physical therapy probably has benefit and is associated with no harm in patients with iatrogenic FP.
Topics: Facial Paralysis; Humans; Iatrogenic Disease; Physical Therapy Modalities
PubMed: 32970128
DOI: 10.1001/jamaoto.2020.3049 -
Nature Aug 2023Speech brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) have the potential to restore rapid communication to people with paralysis by decoding neural activity evoked by attempted speech...
Speech brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) have the potential to restore rapid communication to people with paralysis by decoding neural activity evoked by attempted speech into text or sound. Early demonstrations, although promising, have not yet achieved accuracies sufficiently high for communication of unconstrained sentences from a large vocabulary. Here we demonstrate a speech-to-text BCI that records spiking activity from intracortical microelectrode arrays. Enabled by these high-resolution recordings, our study participant-who can no longer speak intelligibly owing to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis-achieved a 9.1% word error rate on a 50-word vocabulary (2.7 times fewer errors than the previous state-of-the-art speech BCI) and a 23.8% word error rate on a 125,000-word vocabulary (the first successful demonstration, to our knowledge, of large-vocabulary decoding). Our participant's attempted speech was decoded at 62 words per minute, which is 3.4 times as fast as the previous record and begins to approach the speed of natural conversation (160 words per minute). Finally, we highlight two aspects of the neural code for speech that are encouraging for speech BCIs: spatially intermixed tuning to speech articulators that makes accurate decoding possible from only a small region of cortex, and a detailed articulatory representation of phonemes that persists years after paralysis. These results show a feasible path forward for restoring rapid communication to people with paralysis who can no longer speak.
Topics: Humans; Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis; Brain-Computer Interfaces; Cerebral Cortex; Microelectrodes; Paralysis; Speech; Vocabulary; Neural Prostheses
PubMed: 37612500
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06377-x -
Brazilian Journal of Physical Therapy 2022Facial palsy (FP) is defined as an injury of the seventh cranial nerve pair, partial or total, which can be classified as central or peripheral. Proprioceptive... (Review)
Review
BACKGROUND
Facial palsy (FP) is defined as an injury of the seventh cranial nerve pair, partial or total, which can be classified as central or peripheral. Proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF) is primarily used in the functional recovery of upper and lower limb conditions, however the technique has also been used for FP.
OBJECTIVE
To analyze the effect of PNF in the treatment of dysfunctions in FP.
METHODS
Ten databases including BVS, CENTRAL Cochrane, CINAHL, PEDro, PubMed, Scielo, ScienceDirect, SCOPUS, Web of Science, and Google Scholar were comprehensively searched for dates prior to April 2021. Randomized controlled trials of PNF in individuals with dysfunctions caused by facial paralysis were eligible. Outcomes measures were recovery rate and clinical recovery, both measured by using the House Brackmann Scale. Recovery time was measured in days and synkinesis assessed with the Synkinesis Assessment Questionnaire.
RESULTS
A total of 184 patients were included. In general, the included studies have low methodological quality. None of the five studies used PNF as the sole intervention. In all of the included studies PNF was used in combination with other interventions. Our findings show very low evidence that PNF is more effective than minimal intervention for treating FP.
CONCLUSION
We conclude that given the limited number of studies included and the low methodological quality presented, recommendations based on these studies should be interpreted with caution. The effects of PNF on facial paralysis are not clear.
Topics: Humans; Facial Paralysis; Muscle Stretching Exercises; Synkinesis; Recovery of Function
PubMed: 36279766
DOI: 10.1016/j.bjpt.2022.100454 -
European Journal of Physical and... Feb 2020Peripheral facial nerve palsy (FNP) can have various causes, such as Bell's palsy or after surgery for acoustic neuroma. Rehabilitation is often required but there is no... (Randomized Controlled Trial)
Randomized Controlled Trial
BACKGROUND
Peripheral facial nerve palsy (FNP) can have various causes, such as Bell's palsy or after surgery for acoustic neuroma. Rehabilitation is often required but there is no evidence that any rehabilitation approach is more efficacious than another.
AIM
The purpose of this research was to determine the effects of neurocognitive-rehabilitative approach through mirror-therapy (MT) and motor-imagery (MI), integrated into the traditional rehabilitation with mime-therapy and myofascial-approach.
DESIGN
This study was designed as a double-blind, randomized, controlled trial.
SETTING
This study took place from January 2016 to June 2018 at the Unit of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation of Umberto I Polyclinic Hospital, Rome, Italy.
POPULATION
Twenty-two patients were randomized into two groups: the mirror therapy group (N.=11, MT and MI) and the traditional rehabilitation group (N.=11, mime-therapy and a myofascial-approach).
METHODS
Outcome assessments were performed before treatment (T0), after one month (T1=10 session, twice/week), after the second and third months (T2=10 twice/week + 5 of MT+MI one/week and T3=10 twice/week + 5 of MT+MI 1/week), and at the 4-week follow-up (T4=2 months follow-up).
RESULTS
The analysis of the functional evaluations show that both groups experienced progressive improvement T0 to T3, with stabilization of the results at the follow-up. There was a significant difference in House-Brackmann-Scale scores between T0 and follow-up in favor of the experimental group. In terms of quality of life (FaCE scale), total scores and social function items improved in both groups from T0 to T3. The experimental group obtained better results with regard to quality of life and emotional depression.
CONCLUSIONS
The integrated use of MT and MI is efficacious in the rehabilitation of FNP, improving facial physical function. Further studies are needed to determine the predictive factors of the recovery of facial mimic.
CLINICAL REHABILITATION IMPACT
The ability of patients with unilateral facial paralysis to recognize and appropriately judge facial expressions and perceive the judgments of others remains underexplored. The likelihood of recovering near-normal facial-function after grade VI facial paralysis is low. Procedures, such as the immediate repair of the facial nerve with an interposed donor graft, might improve facial function in patients with partially injured facial nerves.
Topics: Adult; Aged; Disability Evaluation; Double-Blind Method; Facial Nerve; Facial Paralysis; Female; Humans; Imagery, Psychotherapy; Male; Middle Aged; Neuropsychological Tests; Physical Therapy Modalities
PubMed: 30916916
DOI: 10.23736/S1973-9087.19.05757-5 -
Nature Aug 2023Speech neuroprostheses have the potential to restore communication to people living with paralysis, but naturalistic speed and expressivity are elusive. Here we use...
Speech neuroprostheses have the potential to restore communication to people living with paralysis, but naturalistic speed and expressivity are elusive. Here we use high-density surface recordings of the speech cortex in a clinical-trial participant with severe limb and vocal paralysis to achieve high-performance real-time decoding across three complementary speech-related output modalities: text, speech audio and facial-avatar animation. We trained and evaluated deep-learning models using neural data collected as the participant attempted to silently speak sentences. For text, we demonstrate accurate and rapid large-vocabulary decoding with a median rate of 78 words per minute and median word error rate of 25%. For speech audio, we demonstrate intelligible and rapid speech synthesis and personalization to the participant's pre-injury voice. For facial-avatar animation, we demonstrate the control of virtual orofacial movements for speech and non-speech communicative gestures. The decoders reached high performance with less than two weeks of training. Our findings introduce a multimodal speech-neuroprosthetic approach that has substantial promise to restore full, embodied communication to people living with severe paralysis.
Topics: Humans; Cerebral Cortex; Clinical Trials as Topic; Communication; Deep Learning; Face; Gestures; Movement; Neural Prostheses; Paralysis; Speech; Vocabulary; Voice
PubMed: 37612505
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06443-4 -
JAMA Neurology Mar 2023Brain-computer interface (BCI) implants have previously required craniotomy to deliver penetrating or surface electrodes to the brain. Whether a minimally invasive... (Clinical Trial)
Clinical Trial
Assessment of Safety of a Fully Implanted Endovascular Brain-Computer Interface for Severe Paralysis in 4 Patients: The Stentrode With Thought-Controlled Digital Switch (SWITCH) Study.
IMPORTANCE
Brain-computer interface (BCI) implants have previously required craniotomy to deliver penetrating or surface electrodes to the brain. Whether a minimally invasive endovascular technique to deliver recording electrodes through the jugular vein to superior sagittal sinus is safe and feasible is unknown.
OBJECTIVE
To assess the safety of an endovascular BCI and feasibility of using the system to control a computer by thought.
DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS
The Stentrode With Thought-Controlled Digital Switch (SWITCH) study, a single-center, prospective, first in-human study, evaluated 5 patients with severe bilateral upper-limb paralysis, with a follow-up of 12 months. From a referred sample, 4 patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and 1 with primary lateral sclerosis met inclusion criteria and were enrolled in the study. Surgical procedures and follow-up visits were performed at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, Parkville, Australia. Training sessions were performed at patients' homes and at a university clinic. The study start date was May 27, 2019, and final follow-up was completed January 9, 2022.
INTERVENTIONS
Recording devices were delivered via catheter and connected to subcutaneous electronic units. Devices communicated wirelessly to an external device for personal computer control.
MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES
The primary safety end point was device-related serious adverse events resulting in death or permanent increased disability. Secondary end points were blood vessel occlusion and device migration. Exploratory end points were signal fidelity and stability over 12 months, number of distinct commands created by neuronal activity, and use of system for digital device control.
RESULTS
Of 4 patients included in analyses, all were male, and the mean (SD) age was 61 (17) years. Patients with preserved motor cortex activity and suitable venous anatomy were implanted. Each completed 12-month follow-up with no serious adverse events and no vessel occlusion or device migration. Mean (SD) signal bandwidth was 233 (16) Hz and was stable throughout study in all 4 patients (SD range across all sessions, 7-32 Hz). At least 5 attempted movement types were decoded offline, and each patient successfully controlled a computer with the BCI.
CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE
Endovascular access to the sensorimotor cortex is an alternative to placing BCI electrodes in or on the dura by open-brain surgery. These final safety and feasibility data from the first in-human SWITCH study indicate that it is possible to record neural signals from a blood vessel. The favorable safety profile could promote wider and more rapid translation of BCI to people with paralysis.
TRIAL REGISTRATION
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03834857.
Topics: Aged; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Brain; Brain-Computer Interfaces; Cerebral Cortex; Paralysis; Prospective Studies
PubMed: 36622685
DOI: 10.1001/jamaneurol.2022.4847 -
Ugeskrift For Laeger Apr 2021Todd's paralysis is a clinical entity consisting of acute focal neurological deficits following an epileptic seizure. It occurs after 6-13% of seizures, and the symptoms... (Review)
Review
Todd's paralysis is a clinical entity consisting of acute focal neurological deficits following an epileptic seizure. It occurs after 6-13% of seizures, and the symptoms may last from minutes to 36 hours. Stroke with seizure at symptom onset is difficult to differentiate clinically from Todd's paralysis. The use of advanced imaging such as cerebral CT and MRI with angiography is recommended. This is a review of the current knowledge on pathogenesis, clinical presentation and differential diagnoses, and we propose an investigation plan for patients presenting with symptoms of Todd's paralysis.
Topics: Epilepsy; Humans; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Paralysis; Seizures; Stroke
PubMed: 33913429
DOI: No ID Found