Study Design and Ethics
nontraumatic
SEQUELAE, EMERGENCY, FACIAL PALSY
This retrospective cohort study followed the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (All medical records of adult patients who presented to the emergency departments of 3 tertiary hospitals in France with nontraumatic PFP between January 1, 2018, and April 30, 2022, were screened. Patients were included if they had an initial diagnosis of BP in the emergency department and subsequently underwent MRI (1.5T or 3T, with gadolinium enhancement). Following the establishment of the French guidelines in 2020, standardized clinical protocols are available in all emergency departments in the case of suspected BP. Emergency physicians should prescribe an MRI for the facial nerve and refer the patient to an ENT specialist within the first month after the onset of BP. The exclusion criteria for the present study were younger than 18 years, diagnosis other than BP, facial palsy sequelae still present before the current episode, diagnosis corrected by non-MRI examinations (laboratory tests, other examinations), lack of thin-section MRI of the facial nerve and/or lack of contrast enhancement, and refusal to participate in the study. The data collected regarding the patients’ medical history and follow-up as well as MRI features are available in eMethods in 