Digital Camera Documentation System for Facial Nerve Outcome Assessment

OBJECTIVE: To describe the use of a digital camera to document facial nerve function after skull base surgery. SETTING: Patients undergoing skull base surgery at a tertiary care otologic and neurotologic clinic were used in the study. INTERVENTIONS: None. RESULTS: A digital camera system provided still images and a video strip lasting less than a minute to document facial nerve motion. CONCLUSIONS: An inexpensive digital camera system can be used to capture still and moving images of facial nerve function on a floppy disk. The images can then be transferred to compact disks for storage of many patient files. Such a system allows documentation for research, exchange of data between offices, and patient education, and it can be used for medical-legal purposes among other uses.