Hypoglossal-Facial Nerve Anastomosis after Acoustic Neuroma Resection: Influence of the Time of Anastomosis on Recovery of Facial Movement

Facial movement following hypoglossal-facial nerve anastomosis was investigated in 29 acoustic neuroma patients. The amount of facial movement was assessed using both the grading system of House and Brackmann and the revised grading scale of Yanagihara. The data were analyzed to determine the influence of the time elapsed between tumor resection and anastomosis upon recovery of facial movement. A slightly larger number of patients with delayed anastomosis (7–23 months) showed minimally poorer results than those with early anastomosis (within 3 months). However, these differences were not statistically significant. Moreover, there was no apparent relationship between the duration of facial nerve paralysis and the recovery of facial movement within either of these two groups. These results showed that hypoglossal-facial nerve anastomosis can be delayed up to 2 years following tumor resection with only minimal effect on the recovery of facial movement.