title: Isolated bilateral abducens nerve palsies caused by the rupture of a vertebral artery aneurysm.
abstract: We report two cases with isolated bilateral abducens nerve palsies due to the rupture of a vertebral aneurysm. Surgery revealed that the aneurysm did not directly compress the abducens nerve. Within a year after the subarachnoid hemorrhage, the patients gained full recovery from the bilateral abducens nerve palsies. In view of the clinical and operative findings, it may be regarded as a compression and/or stretching of the bilateral abducens nerves by a thick clot in the prepontine cistern, and not as a manifestation of the raised intracranial pressure. The mechanisms of the isolated abducens nerve palsy are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Faculty of Medicine, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Morioka
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Matsushima
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Yokoyama
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Muratani
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Fujii
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fukui
mesh_terms: D000010:Abducens Nerve; D000368:Aged; D017542:Aneurysm, Ruptured / Q000150:complications*; D003389:Cranial Nerve Diseases / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D010243:Paralysis / Q000209:etiology*; D013345:Subarachnoid Hemorrhage / Q000150:complications / Q000209:etiology; D014711:Vertebral Artery