SynthesisJournal of neurology2022
Effectiveness comparisons of antiviral treatments for Bell palsy: a systematic review and network meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Journal of neurology, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 10 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 18 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pathogenesis, diagnosis and therapy of facial synkinesis: A systematic review and clinical practice recommendations by the international head and neck scientific group.Frontiers in neurology · 2022Pooled it
- Efficacy and Safety of Pharmacological and Physical Therapies for Bell's Palsy: A Bayesian Network Meta-Analysis.Frontiers in neurology · 2022Pooled it
- Laser acupuncture and photobiomodulation therapy in Bell's palsy with a duration of greater than 8 weeks: a randomized controlled trial.Lasers in medical science · 2024Trial
- Contemporary pharmacological strategies for acute peripheral facial palsy: a narrative review with clinical decision considerations.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2026Review
- Effectiveness of steroids and antiviral agents in the treatment of Bell's palsy.Medicine and pharmacy reports · 2025Review
- Efficacy of Combination and Single Therapy in Bell's Palsy: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.World journal of plastic surgery · 2025Review
- Pharmacovigilance study of famciclovir in the Food and Drug administration adverse event reporting system database.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Status of Herpes Zoster and Herpes Zoster Vaccines in 2023: A position paper.Revista espanola de quimioterapia : publicacion oficial de la Sociedad Espanola de Quimioterapia · 2023Review
- Recovery from Bell's palsy after treatment using uncultured umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells: A case report.World journal of clinical cases · 2023Article
- Steroids plus antiviral agents are more effective than steroids alone in the treatment of severe Bell's palsy patients over 40 years of age.International journal of immunopathology and pharmacologyArticle
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesAntiviral treatments for Bell palsy have been widely used, but there is no definite conclusion of which is the most effective antiviral drug. We conducted a systematic review of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) including network meta-analysis to investigate the comparative effectiveness of antiviral treatments for Bell palsy. DATA: RCTs comparing effectiveness between antiviral treatments and placebo were included. Risk of bias within and across studies was assessed with the Cochrane tool and the GRADE approach, respectively. Random-effects pairwise meta-analyses were conducted, followed by network meta-analysis. SOURCES: Three electronic databases were searched from inception to May 18, 2020. STUDY SELECTION: 11 trials and 3393 patients with four arms and eleven contrasts were included.
resultsSignificant differences were observed between placebo and famciclovir with respect to overall recovery and no statistically significant differences were found from other comparisons. Treatment ranking based on the evidence network indicated that famciclovir shared the best results, followed by valacyclovir, acyclovir, and finally placebo. Adverse events of famciclovir were too rare and slight to be analyzed. Our confidence in pairwise comparisons was moderate to low, due to study limitations, inconsistency, and imprecision; our confidence in ranking was moderate, due to study limitations. Inconsistency is not deemed to exist by a loop-specific approach and node-splitting procedure. Results of exploring publication bias are satisfying.
conclusionsAccording to pairwise and network comparisons, famciclovir could be better than placebo and the effectiveness of other antiviral treatments are similar. For clinical efficacy, famciclovir obtains the best recovery rate of facial function for Bell palsy. Acyclovir has the lowest rate of synkinesis, though, it is not adequately recommended and more superior trails are needed in the future.
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Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.