Podcast 674: Facial Nerve Palsy in Kids

<p><strong>Contributor:  Aaron Lessen, MD</strong></p> <p><strong>Educational Pearls:</strong></p> <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Facial nerve palsy (Bell’s palsy) can occur in pediatric patients with Lyme disease, viral infection, or even leukemia</span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">One trial sought out to find if steroids and acyclovir would benefit pediatric patients with facial nerve palsy</span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">However, during screening process, around 1% of enrollees had leukemia (5 of the 644 patients) </span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">This is important as steroids can partially treat the leukemia thereby prolonging diagnosis and put the patient at risk for tumor lysis syndrome</span></li> </ul> <p><strong>References</strong></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Babl FE, Kochar A, Osborn M, et al. Risk of Leukemia in Children With Peripheral Facial Palsy. Ann Emerg Med. 2021;77(2):174-177. doi:10.1016/j.annemergmed.2020.06.029</span></p> <p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Summarized by John Spartz, MS4 | Edited by Erik Verzemnieks, MD</span></em></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Emergency Medical Minute is excited to announce that we are now offering</span> <em><span style="font-weight: 400;">AMA PRA Category 1 credits™</span></em> <span style="font-weight: 400;">via online course modules. To access these and for more information, visit our website at</span> <a href= "http://www.emergencymedicalminute.com/cme-courses"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">www.emergencymedicalminute.com/cme-courses/</span></a> <span style="font-weight: 400;">and create an account. </span></p> <p><a href= "https://www.paypal.com/donate?token=6bIZ91UwjZALMiRLAEcQYYPHyLILwbivQwgtGl3JzaB6oGAQK1B2nrGSGvrS-g7zJApXzVlWIO-lmLfB"> <span style="font-weight: 400;">Donate to EMM today!</spa