Peripheral facial palsy following glossopharyngeal block: a case report

Abstract

Glossopharyngeal nerve neuralgia is a painful clinical entity, secondary to different etiologies of compressive character on the nerve. It can generate an important deterioration in the quality of life, due to its sensitive symptoms at the facial level; being less frequent than trigeminal nerve neuralgia, and requiring the fulfillment of diagnostic criteria for its clinical confirmation. The treatment of this entity can be pharmacological, surgical, or interventional by percutaneous route with ultrasound guidance. Complications of interventional techniques are rare, in this case, we present peripheral facial paralysis; with complete resolution in 12 hours after a percutaneous block of the glossopharyngeal nerve with ultrasound guidance. This complication is very rarely reported in the medical literature may be due to the local diffusion of the anesthetic drug or the multiple anatomical variants of the facial nerve in addition to the possibility of extra petrosal branches that communicate the facial nerve with the glossopharyngeal nerve. Peripheral facial paralysis can be considered an expected side effect, infrequent of this procedure in patients with anatomical variants, which does not modify the effectiveness of the intervention or the patient’s safety.