Traumatic trochlear nerve palsy following minor occipital impact--four case reports. (1/4)

Four patients presented with transient trochlear nerve palsy following occipital impact. The impact was slight in all patients, and neuroimaging found no lesions of the nerve. Three patients had delayed onset. Two patients did not complain of diplopia, but were only aware of blurred vision. In such patients, the head tilting test was useful for diagnosis. Minor occipital impact can cause trochlear nerve palsy, which requires careful neurological examinations to identify.  (+info)

Neurotization of oculomotor, trochlear and abducent nerves in skull base surgery. (2/4)

OBJECTIVE: To anatomically reconstruct the oculomotor nerve, trochlear nerve, and abducent nerve by skull base surgery. METHODS: Seventeen cranial nerves (three oculomotor nerves, eight trochlear nerves and six abducent nerves) were injured and anatomically reconstructed in thirteen skull base operations during a period from 1994 to 2000. Repair techniques included end-to-end neurosuture or fibrin glue adhesion, graft neurosuture or fibrin glue adhesion. The relationships between repair techniques and functional recovery and the related factors were analyzed. RESULTS: Functional recovery began from 3 to 8 months after surgery. During a follow-up period of 4 months to 6 years, complete recovery of function was observed in 6 trochlear nerves (75%) and 4 abducent nerves (67%), while partial functional recovery was observed in the other cranial nerves including 2 trochlear nerves, 2 abducent nerves, and 3 oculomotor nerves. CONCLUSIONS: Complete or partial functional recovery could be expected after anatomical neurotization of an injured oculomotor, trochlear or abducent nerve. Our study demonstrated that, in terms of functional recovery, trochlear and abducent nerves are more responsive than oculomotor nerves, and that end-to-end reconstruction is more efficient than graft reconstruction. These results encourage us to perform reconstruction for a separated cranial nerve as often as possible during skull base surgery.  (+info)

Clinical analysis of STA-SCA bypass for vertebrobasilar occlusive disease. (3/4)

In order to clarify the effectiveness of extracranial- intracranial bypass in cases of vertebro-basilar occlusive disease, we investigated the operative complication, clinical course and follow-up study of 30 cases undergoing superficial temporal artery-superior cerebellar artery (STA-SCA) bypass surgery. Postoperative angiogram showed the patency of the anastomoses in all cases. No serious surgical complications were observed. The outcome on discharge was excellent, with no morbidity and one mortality which was due to cardiac infarction. In the follow-up study, there were four cases with ischemic symptoms, two with transient ischemic attack and two with completed stroke, one of which was a supratentorial infarction due to internal carotid artery occlusion and the other was a small infarction of pons. There were also two deaths due to cardiac infarction and diabetes mellitus. Favorable outcomes were obtained for the remaining cases. The present study suggests that, STA-SCA bypass, can be performed without surgical and systemic complications and used as an effective therapy for vertebrobasilar ischemia.  (+info)

Fourth cranial nerve palsy in a collegiate lacrosse player: a case report. (4/4)

 (+info)