4.5 Review

Bilateral Facial Weakness with Distal Paresthesia Following COVID-19 Vaccination: A Scoping Review for an Atypical Variant of Guillain-Barre Syndrome

Journal

BRAIN SCIENCES
Volume 12, Issue 8, Pages -

Publisher

MDPI
DOI: 10.3390/brainsci12081046

Keywords

Guillain-Barre syndrome; COVID-19 vaccine; adverse effects; facial paralysis; systematic review

Categories

Funding

  1. Kangdong Sacred Heart Hospital Fund [2020-16]

Ask authors/readers for more resources

Bilateral facial weakness with distal paresthesia (BFWdp) may be a variant of Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS) following COVID-19 vaccination. This study found that BFWdp cases had similar characteristics to previous cases, but also showed additional features such as facial nerve enhancement on brain MRI and antiganglioside antibody positivity.
Background and Purpose: Recent population-based studies from the US and UK have identified an increase in the occurrence of Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS) following coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination. However, the localized variant of GBS might be underestimated due to its rarity and atypical features. We aimed to identify and characterize bilateral facial weakness with distal paresthesia (BFWdp) as a GBS variant following COVID-19 vaccination. Materials and Methods: Relevant studies published during the COVID-19 pandemic were searched and identified in the MEDLINE, Embase, and other databases. Results: This review found that 18 BFWdp cases presented characteristics similar to previous BFWdp cases as defined in the literature: male dominance, frequent albuminocytological dissociation, and acute inflammatory demyelinating neuropathy pattern. In contrast, facial nerve enhancement on brain MRI and antiganglioside antibody positivity were often observed in BFWdp following COVID-19 vaccination. Conclusions: The mechanism of BFWdp following COVID-19 vaccination appears to be somewhat different from that of sporadic BFWdp. Neurological syndromes with rare incidence and difficulty in diagnosis should be considered adverse events of COVID-19 vaccination.

Authors

I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.

Reviews

Primary Rating

4.5
Not enough ratings

Secondary Ratings

Novelty
-
Significance
-
Scientific rigor
-
Rate this paper

Recommended

No Data Available
No Data Available