Collet-Sicard syndrome resulting from closed head injury: case report.
A 67-year-old man developed paralysis of the right ninth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth cranial nerves (Collet-Sicard syndrome) after sustaining a closed head injury. Plain x-ray films of the skull revealed two linear fractures of the occipital bone (one of them probably traversing through the right occipital condyle) and a prominent soft-tissue shadow in the region of the nasopharynx, suggestive of a skull base fracture. The patient was managed conservatively. This is the only case of unilateral multiple caudal cranial nerve palsies (IX through XII), seen by us over a 20-year period, from among more than 5,000 moderate to significant head injuries.
Department of Surgical Neurology, Steglitz Medical Center, Berlin, Federal Republic of Germany.
M A
MA
Wani
P N
PN
Tandon
A K
AK
Banerji
R
R
Bhatia
D000055:Accessory Nerve; D000368:Aged; D003389:Cranial Nerve Diseases / Q000209:etiology*; D005930:Glossopharyngeal Nerve; D016489:Head Injuries, Closed / Q000150:complications*; D006801:Humans; D007002:Hypoglossal Nerve; D008297:Male; D010243:Paralysis / Q000209:etiology*; D011859:Radiography; D012887:Skull Fractures / Q000150:complications / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D013577:Syndrome; D014630:Vagus Nerve