Observations on the Efficacy of the Combined Treatment of Peripheral Facial Paralysis with Traditional Chinese Medicine and Western Medicine

Objective To investigate the clinical efficacy of the combined treatment of peripheral facial paralysis with traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine. Methods Ninety-five cases were randomly enrolled from the outpatients diagnosed with facial paralysis and allocated, according to different therapeutic methods, to a combined traditional Chinese and Western medical treatment group of 38 cases, a Chinese herbal medicine group of 28 cases and a Western medicine group of 29 cases. Results The cure rate was 65.8% in the combined traditional Chinese and Western medical treatment group, which was significantly higher than 28.6% in the Chinese herbal medicine group (P0.01) and 31.0% in the Western medicine group (P0.05). There was no statistically significant difference between the Chinese herbal medicine group and the Western medicine group. The efficacy rates in the three groups were 94.7%, 85.7% and 86.2%, respectively. There was no statistically significant difference among them (χ2=1.847, P0.05). The Simplified Portman Assessment showed that the facial muscle function score was 17.5263±5.3864 in the combined traditional Chinese and Western medical treatment group, which was significantly higher than 13.4286±5.7053 in the Chinese herbal medicine group (P0.01) and 13.6897±5.8009 in the Western medicine group (P0.01). The rate of improvement in facial muscle function was 86.92%±28.33% in the combined traditional Chinese and Western medical treatment group, which was also significantly higher than 63.89%±30.11% in the Chinese herbal medicine group (P0.01) and 65.31%±30.82% in the Western medicine group (P0.01). Conclusion A combined treatment with traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine is much superior to simple Chinese herbal treatment or Western drug treatment in improving the symptoms of peripheral facial paralysis and in the cure rate. It can effectively lighten the sequela of facial paralysis and decrease its incidence.