Misdiagnosis of Facial Nerve Palsy: A Case Report of Sporadic Vestibular Schwannomas (Non-NFM2) Causing Facial Nerve Palsy Be Misled by Bell’s Palsy in a Child
We report a case of a rare sporadic Vestibular
Schwannoma of a 9-month-old girl who had a right-sided lower motor type facial
nerve palsy. The patient was initially diagnosed with Bell’s palsy and received
steroid treatment accordingly, two months later the patient’s condition
deteriorated, and further evaluation of CT and MRI brain was conducted that
showed a mass lesion in the posterior fossa causing compression on the facial
nerve. Misdiagnosis of facial nerve paralysis is common among children due to multiple
related etiologies and varying rates of incidence in comparison to adults. The
authors hope to address this issue in this report. Background: Facial
nerve paralysis has been a matter of concern for many researchers to understand
its nature, causes and presentation according to different age groups. In
adults, Bell’s palsy (BP), the idiopathic form of facial nerve paralysis, is
more common compared to children where most
cases are due to secondary etiologies. Therefore, pediatricians are in
an important position to identify these patients early in order to launch the
most effective diagnostic and treatment approaches.
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