Eicher S A, Coker N J, Alford B R, Igarashi M, Smith R J
Department of Otorhinolaryngology and Communicative Sciences, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Tex.
Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 1990 Sep;116(9):1030-5. doi: 10.1001/archotol.1990.01870090046005.
If entrapment is a critical factor in pathogenesis, the lower incidence of Bell's palsy in children compared with adults may have an anatomical basis. Histologic sections of 20 temporal bones from children younger than 2 years were examined to determine the diameter of the facial nerve and fallopian canal at the meatal foramen and in the labyrinthine segment. No statistically significant difference in the nerve/canal ratios in these areas was found. Comparisons were made with similar data from 10 adult temporal bones. The nerve/canal ratios in the labyrinthine portion were similar in both age groups; however, the ratio at the meatal foramen was significantly smaller in children. This may be due, in part, to growth of the vertical crest, which was found to increase considerably in length and width by adulthood. These results suggest that the facial nerve is not as tightly contained at the meatal foramen in children and provides a possible explanation for the relative infrequency of Bell's palsy in this age group.
如果卡压是发病机制中的一个关键因素，那么与成人相比，儿童贝尔面瘫发病率较低可能有解剖学基础。对20例2岁以下儿童的颞骨组织切片进行检查，以确定面神经在耳道孔和迷路段的直径以及面神经管的直径。在这些区域未发现神经/神经管比例有统计学上的显著差异。将这些数据与10例成人颞骨的类似数据进行比较。两个年龄组迷路段的神经/神经管比例相似；然而，儿童耳道孔处的比例明显较小。这可能部分是由于垂直嵴的生长，发现其长度和宽度在成年期会显著增加。这些结果表明，儿童耳道孔处的面神经容纳得没有那么紧密，这为该年龄组贝尔面瘫相对少见提供了一个可能的解释。
