Topical papaverine and facial nerve dysfunction in cerebellopontine angle surgery

David J. Eisenman, G. Paul DiGoy, Jonathan D. Victor, and Samuel H. Selesnick

American Journal of Otology 20, 77-80 (1999)

Summary

A case of facial nerve dysfunction assocaited with topical use of papaverine hydrochloride in the cerebellopontine angle is described. Although this and other case reports suggest that papaverine may have neuropathic effects when applied either topically or intra-arterially, dysfunction of the facial nerve by topical papaverine hydrochloride could not be reproduced in an established animal model of cerebellopontine angle surgery.