Neurosensory recovery after trauma to the orbital floor: a prospective trial with dexamethasone.
Our aims were to document the occurrence of neurosensory disturbances of the infraorbital nerve six months after operation for an orbital blow-out fracture, and to find out whether dexamethasone facilitates neurosensory regeneration. Patients were randomly assigned to one of two groups: the study group was given a total of dexamethasone 30mg, whereas the control group were given neither glucocorticoid nor placebo. Each patient's infraorbital neurosensory state was recorded preoperatively, immediately postoperatively, and six months later. A total of 18 patients were included, eight of whom had neurosensory disturbances six months after the initial trauma that was not affected by dexamethasone. Six of the seven patients who had a delay of seven days or more between trauma and operation had significantly prolonged disturbance at the 180-day clinical follow up compared with those in whom it was less than seven days (p=0.005). Other possible predictors made no significant difference. Although dexamethasone did not facilitate sensory recovery, its benefits in the management of pain and reduction of swelling may justify its use in the management of facial trauma in selected patients.
['Haapanen|A|A|', 'Thorén|H|H|', 'Apajalahti|S|S|', 'Suominen|A L|AL|', 'Snäll|J|J|']
D000328:Adult D000368:Aged D000369:Aged, 80 and over D003907:Dexamethasone D005260:Female D005938:Glucocorticoids D006801:Humans D008297:Male D008875:Middle Aged D009915:Orbit D009917:Orbital Fractures D011183:Postoperative Complications D011446:Prospective Studies D020127:Recovery of Function D016037:Single-Blind Method D020886:Somatosensory Disorders D016896:Treatment Outcome
dexamethasone Neurosensory disturbance facial trauma orbital fracture