TRAUMATIC INTERNUCLEAR OPHTHALMOPLEGIA

The authors report a case of traumatic internuclear ophthalmoplegia an d discuss its pathophysiologic mechanism. Internuclear ophthalmoplegia due to head trauma is uncommon, though it may be more common than rep orted since signs and symptoms typically resolve over weeks to months, and in multiple trauma patients other serious injuries overshadow dis turbances of eye movements. A lesion involving medial longitudinal fas ciculus was found by magnetic resonance imaging in the early post-trau matic period; this lesion was not seen when routine X-ray computed tom ography was performed at the time of injury, confirming that magnetic resonance scanning is definitely superior to computed tomography tor e valuating internuclear ophthalmoplegia.