Abstract
Direct injury to the facial nerve is frequently a cause of facial paralysis after operation to the middle ear.
The surgeon in such cases is often unaware that he had traumatized the nerve. This complication could be avoided by identifying the location of the nerve during operation.
Damages to the cochlea or vestibule may develop, although rare, as a complication of surgery to the middle ear, but the true cause of such complications remains unknown and no absolute method is available for prevention of such complication.
The paralysis of the facial nerve however, can be prevented totally by a meticulous operation.
In many cases the author used the posterior tympanoplasty technique and found that this was a superior method in avoiding facial nerve complications. The author has operated on 432 cases during the past 4 and a half years and encountered 5 cases of temporary facial paresis, all of whom recovered within 48 hours.
The author described the course of the facial nerve in the middle ear in the 432 cases.
