Paralysis of the Facial Nerve: Caused by Acinic Cell Carcinoma

Abstract
UNILATERAL PARALYSIS of all portions of the facial musculature is a frequent clinical finding. It may occur in a variety of diseases which affect parts of the facial nerve or of its nucleus in the brain stem. However, cases which are apparently idiopathic and which are commonly referred to as "Bell's palsy" are by far the most frequent. As neither its pathogenesis nor its etiology are properly understood, a diagnosis of Bell's palsy is only to be arrived at by way of exclusion. Accordingly, it may happen that in a patient in whom the diagnosis of Bell's palsy has been made, at a later time a definite cause of the paralysis becomes apparent.1 The present report describes such a patient. Report of a Case A 65-year-old farmer first noticed an inability to close his left eye in July 1965. During the following months a complete peripheral paralysis of the

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