S  B  P  S

 

Scottish Bell's Palsy Study

Welcome

How to Refer a Patient

What is Bell’s Palsy?

What is the S B P S?

Who’s Who

The Trial Sites

The Patient’s Experience

Graeme’s Story

House-Brackmann Scale

The Questionnaires

Documentation

Legal Stuff

Links to other web sites

Scottish Bell's Palsy Study
Tayside Centre for General Practice
Kirsty Semple Way
Dundee, Scotland
DD2 4BF

phone        01382 420049
fax             01382 420010
email         bells@tcgp.dundee.ac.uk
web           www.dundee.ac.uk/bells/

Study Coordinator
Fergus Daly

Study Secretary
Jill Sutherland

 

Sir Charles Bell
(1774-1842)

Contact details
Text Box: This Edinburgh anatomist, surgeon and physiologist identified the condition now known as “Bell’s Palsy” in 1821. He also expounded what has become known as “Bell’s Law” and the posterior or long thoracic nerve is named “Bell’s Nerve” as a direct consequence of his work in anatomy. His published Essays on the Anatomy of Expression in Painting for instructing artists were based on his anatomical knowledge, specifically of the musculature and nerve system of the human face. You can find more biographical detail about Charles Bell here, just one of many sites describing the life and work of this multi-talented scientist.

BELLS trial: final results

 

RESULTS PUBLISHED

 

On Thursday 18th October 2007 the results of the Scottish Bell’s Palsy Study were published in the New England Journal of Medicine with the title

 

“Early Treatment with
Prednisolone or Acyclovir
in Bell’s Palsy”

 

(N Engl J Med 2007;357:1598-607).

                                                              

 

CONCLUSIONS

 

In patients with Bell’s palsy, early treatment with prednisolone significantly improves the chances of complete recovery at three and nine months.
There is no evidence of a benefit from acyclovir given alone or of any additional benefit from acyclovir given in combination with prednisolone.

                                                              

 

For more details see the Stop Press page.

This site is provided as a service to all those involved in the Scottish Bell’s Palsy Study (patients, ENT surgeons, general practitioners, researchers and other medical and nursing staff) and to anybody interested in this condition and in the current state of medical knowledge about it.

The Scottish Bell’s Palsy Study (SBPS) is a randomized clinical trial (RCT) funded by the NHS and running throughout Scotland from November 2003 to June 2007 (44 months’ duration altogether) with patient recruitment from June 2004 to June 2006 (25 months).

The site briefly describes the condition (What is Bell’s Palsy?) and the study objectives (What is the SBPS?). It provides contact information (see below), a list of clinics in hospitals in Scotland where patients may be referred to join the study, and copies of relevant study documentation.

If you visit The Patient’s Experience you’ll see an account of what you can expect to happen to you if you are recruited into the study, together with two real-life descriptions of an episode of Bell’s Palsy, one from a patient on this trial. The page on Documentation provides links to relevant paperwork including the Patient Information Sheet.