Facial muscle reanimation by transcutaneous electrical stimulation for peripheral facial nerve palsy

Eeva Mäkelä, Hanna Venesvirta, M Ilves, Jani Lylykangas, V. Rantanen, T. Ylä-Kotola, S. Suominen, A. Vehkaoja, J. Verho, Jukka Lekkala, V. Surakka, M Rautiainen

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

15 Citations (Scopus)
181 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Reanimation of paralysed facial muscles by electrical stimulation has been studied extensively in animal models, but human studies in this field are largely lacking. Twenty-four subjects with a peripheral facial nerve palsy with a median duration of three years were enrolled. We studied activations of four facial muscles with electrical stimulation using surface electrodes. In subjects whose voluntary movement was severely impaired or completely absent, the electrical stimulation produced a movement that was greater in amplitude compared with the voluntary effort in 10 out of 18 subjects in the frontalis muscle, in 5 out of 14 subjects in the zygomaticus major muscle, and in 3 out of 8 subjects in the orbicularis oris muscle. The electrical stimulation produced a stronger blink in 8 subjects out of 22 compared with their spontaneous blinks. The stimulation could produce a better movement even in cases where the muscles were clinically completely paretic, sometimes also in palsies that were several years old, provided that the muscle was not totally denervated. Restoring the function of paralysed facial muscles by electrical stimulation has potential as a therapeutic option in cases where the muscle is clinically paretic but has reinnervation.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)155-164
Number of pages10
JournalJournal of Medical Engineering and Technology
Volume43
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2019
Publication typeA1 Journal article-refereed

Keywords

  • Facial paralysis
  • functional electrical stimulation
  • prosthetics
  • rehabilitation

Publication forum classification

  • Publication forum level 1

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