Millard-Gubler Syndrome

Excerpt

Millard-Gubler syndrome (MGS), also known as facial abducens hemiplegia syndrome or the ventral pontine syndrome, is an eponym after two French physicians Auguste Louis Jules Millard and Adolphe-Marie Gubler in 1858 who first described the features of this syndrome. MGS is one of the classical crossed brainstem syndromes characterized by a unilateral lesion of basal portion of the caudal pons involving fascicles of abducens (VI) and the facial (VII) cranial nerve, and the pyramidal tract fibers.

Components of MGS

1. Ipsilateral weakness of the eye on abduction (VI nerve)

2. Ipsilateral facial muscle weakness (VII nerve)

3. Contralateral hemiparesis or hemiplegia of upper and lower extremities (pyramidal tract involvement)

MGS often presents with other neurological deficits such as contralateral hemiparesthesia and contralateral cerebellar ataxia as many other nuclei fibers exist near the root fibers of the facial nerve nucleus.