Congenital facial nerve aplasia: MR depiction of a rare anomaly

Abstract

We report two infants presenting with unilateral congenital facial palsy since birth. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in both the cases revealed complete unilateral aplasia of facial nerve. To our knowledge, this is the first reported MR depiction of nonsyndromic isolated facial nerve aplasia. Imaging features and the pertinent anatomy is discussed along with a brief review of literature. © 2016 Indian Journal of Radiology and Imaging | Published by Wolters Kluwer - Medknow