A review of 66 cases of facial paralysis encountered in our clinic during the past two years (1974-1975) was made. Among them, 61 cases were the peripheral facial palsy including 35 cases of Bell's palsy and 11 cases of Hunt's syndrome.
Prodromal signs and symptoms that appeared to have been caused by virus preceded the facial paralysis in about 46% of the patients in this series, while taste disorder was associated in 50% of these subjects. The prognosis of Bell's palsy caused by viral infection seemed to be poor.
The preliminary results of a controlled study with randomly selected drugs, and those in which a new combination with the usual medicaments (U. M.), such as vitamine B group and tocopherol nicotinate, and Coenzyme Q10 as substitute for ATP in Bell's palsy (18 cases) and Hunt's syndrome (7 cases) during 1975 were reported. The purpose for selecting this new combination with such a drug was to compare the efficacy of Coenzyme Q10 with that of ATP and to search for a much more effective medication for the conservative treatment of f acial palsy.
A complete cure was obtained in 83.3% of the patients treated with Coenzyme Q10 plus U. M. and in 66.7% of those given ATP with U. M., showing a significant difference between the two (P<0.05).
Based upon these findings, it is concluded that the combined administration of Coenzyme Q10 and U. M. was an effective therapeutic regimen for the treatment of Bell's palsy and also in Hunt's syndrome if performed at an early stage (within two weeks) after the onset of the paralysis.
