[Angiographic study of facial paralyses (author's transl)]

Many arguments lead us to think that a possible etiologic factor in idiopathic Bell's palsy is the ischemia of the facial nerve and that angiography could help in diagnosis: (1) the rapid progress of the paralysis; (2) the correlation between Bell's palsy occurring after embolization of the internal maxillary artery, the middle meningeal artery, the occipital or posterior auricular artery, and their participation in the blood supply of the facial nerve; (3) the already known ischemic third nerve paralysis reported in diabetes and extending further to the facial nerve. Even if it is technically impossible to study Bell's palsy by angiography, it is interesting to understand and consider some complications of embolization and perhaps to envisage a new kind of treatment.