[Facial neuritis in middle-aged and elderly patients]

The progress of facial nerve neuritis was studied clinically in 59 patients of middle and old age with atherosclerosis and arterial hypertension. The patients were divided into 3 groups. An inflammatory genesis of prosoplegia was established in the first group (12 cases). The second group (24 cases) showed symptoms of the inflammatory process with a predominance of vascular insufficiency. This circumstance hampered elucidation of the etiology of the disease, but pointed to crucial significance of vascular factors in the development of prosoplegia. The third group (23 cases) demonstrated a vascular nature of prosoplegia. It is assumed that the importance of insufficiency in the blood supply of the facial nerve in the etiopathogenesis of prosoplegia in most patients should be reflected in the approach to its treatment.