Skip to main content

Main menu

  • Home
  • Our journals
    • Clinical Medicine
    • Future Healthcare Journal
  • Subject collections
  • About the RCP
  • Contact us

Clinical Medicine Journal

  • ClinMed Home
  • Content
    • Current
    • Ahead of print
    • Archive
  • Author guidance
    • Instructions for authors
    • Submit online
  • About ClinMed
    • Scope
    • Editorial board
    • Policies
    • Information for reviewers
    • Advertising

User menu

  • Log in

Search

  • Advanced search
RCP Journals
Home
  • Log in
  • Home
  • Our journals
    • Clinical Medicine
    • Future Healthcare Journal
  • Subject collections
  • About the RCP
  • Contact us
Advanced

Clinical Medicine Journal

clinmedicine Logo
  • ClinMed Home
  • Content
    • Current
    • Ahead of print
    • Archive
  • Author guidance
    • Instructions for authors
    • Submit online
  • About ClinMed
    • Scope
    • Editorial board
    • Policies
    • Information for reviewers
    • Advertising

Misdiagnosing Bell's palsy as acute stroke

Robert Elkeles
Download PDF
DOI: https://doi.org/10.7861/clinmedicine.20-1-120
Clin Med January 2020
Robert Elkeles
Imperial College NHS Healthcare NHS Trust, London, UK
Roles: Consultant physician (retired)
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • Article
  • Info & Metrics
Loading

Editor – Induruwa et al describe the difficulties in diagnosing Bell's palsy in their secondary care setting.1 Only 40% of doctors documented other important non-stroke like symptoms; none documented changes in taste or lacrimation, key attributes of facial nerve lesion; from initial clerking, only nine patients received steroids before further investigation or specialist review; 31/46 received no treatment after initial clerking. They point out that Bell's palsy can be difficult to diagnose and differentiate from acute stroke and they describe the adverse consequences of delays in diagnosis and in initiating treatment. They suggest that there is a lack of confidence in diagnosing Bell's palsy both in primary and secondary care, and feel that resources could be saved if it could be diagnosed and managed in primary care. From their findings I would conclude the opposite. Such cases should be assessed in secondary care with access to a specialist so that timely correct treatment and follow-up can be instituted. The idea that all this can be undertaken by overworked and undertrained general practitioners is both unrealistic and bad for patient care.

  • © Royal College of Physicians 2020. All rights reserved.

Reference

  1. ↵
    1. Induruwa I
    , Holland N, Gregory R, Khadjooi K. The impact of misdiagnosing Bell's palsy as acute stroke. Clin Med 2019;19:494–8
    OpenUrlAbstract/FREE Full Text
Back to top
Previous articleNext article

Article Tools

Download PDF
Article Alerts
Sign In to Email Alerts with your Email Address
Citation Tools
Misdiagnosing Bell's palsy as acute stroke
Robert Elkeles
Clinical Medicine Jan 2020, 20 (1) 120; DOI: 10.7861/clinmedicine.20-1-120

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
Share
Misdiagnosing Bell's palsy as acute stroke
Robert Elkeles
Clinical Medicine Jan 2020, 20 (1) 120; DOI: 10.7861/clinmedicine.20-1-120
del.icio.us logo Digg logo Reddit logo Twitter logo CiteULike logo Facebook logo Google logo Mendeley logo
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One

Jump to section

  • Article
    • Reference
  • Info & Metrics

Related Articles

  • No related articles found.
  • PubMed
  • Google Scholar

Cited By...

  • No citing articles found.
  • Google Scholar

More in this TOC Section

  • Guillain–Barré syndrome
  • Qualitative fit testing
  • Urgent upper gastrointestinal endoscopy referrals cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic
Show more Letters to the editor

Similar Articles

Navigate this Journal

  • Journal Home
  • Current Issue
  • Ahead of Print
  • Archive

Related Links

  • ClinMed - Home
  • FHJ - Home
clinmedicine Footer Logo
  • Home
  • Journals
  • Contact us
  • Advertise
HighWire Press, Inc.

Follow Us:

  • Follow HighWire Origins on Twitter
  • Visit HighWire Origins on Facebook

Copyright © 2020 by the Royal College of Physicians