Complete bilateral ophthalmoplegia resistant to caloric stimulation in bilateral paramedian midbrain-thalamic infarction

J Neuroophthalmol. 2009 Dec;29(4):284-5. doi: 10.1097/WNO.0b013e3181b1b33a.

Abstract

A 79-year-old woman who developed bilateral paramedian midbrain-thalamic infarction manifested complete bilateral ophthalmoplegia resistant to caloric stimulation, indicating impairment of the vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR). Previous reports have mentioned this phenomenon but have not explicitly reported the results of caloric testing. Why a lesion apparently confined to the upper brainstem should produce impairment of the horizontal VOR remains unexplained.

Publication types

  • Case Reports

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Caloric Tests
  • Fatal Outcome
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Infarction, Posterior Cerebral Artery / complications*
  • Infarction, Posterior Cerebral Artery / diagnostic imaging
  • Infarction, Posterior Cerebral Artery / pathology
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging
  • Mesencephalon / diagnostic imaging
  • Mesencephalon / pathology*
  • Ophthalmoplegia / complications*
  • Ophthalmoplegia / diagnostic imaging
  • Ophthalmoplegia / pathology
  • Radiography
  • Thalamus / diagnostic imaging
  • Thalamus / pathology*