The Role of Herpes Simplex Virus Type one in Creating Facial Paralysis in Children with Cochlear Implants

Cochlear implant is an appropriate treatment for deaf children. Rare complications have been reported for this surgery and facial nerve paralysis is one of them with an incidence rate of 0.71%. The aim of this study was to investigate the positive serology and role of Herpes simplex type I virus in patients with Cochlear implant and facial nerve paralysis after surgery.
This cross-sectional study was conducted on 199 candidate children undergoing cochlear implantation. Herpes simplex type I serology test was performed before and after the surgery in children. The results were analyzed by SPSS version 20.
199 children with a mean age of 2.42 years (1-14 years old) were studied. Of them, 52.2% were boys and 47.7% were girls. Herpes-positive serology was 6.11%. Facial nerve paralysis was seen in five cases; there was no evidence of herpes and all of them recovered without treatment.
According to this study, the prevalence of facial nerve paralysis was low and reactivation of herpes was not efficient. More studies are needed due to the low prevalence.