Body Lateropulsion With Involvement of the Medial Longitudinal Fasciculus Due to a Rostral Pontine Tegmentum Infarction

Abstract

Patient 1 developed leftward body lateropulsion (BL), right internuclear ophthalmoplegia, and hypalgesia and thermohypoesthesia in the territory of the left trigeminal nerve due to an infarction in the right rostral ponine tegmentum. Patient 2 developed rightward BL and left non-paralytic pontine exotropia without alternating exotropia due to an infarction in the left rostral pontine tegmentum. Although impairment of the ascending graviceptive pathway (GP) causes BL, its precise location remains uncertain. Neurologic findings in our patients suggest that GP may run in the vicinity of the medial longitudinal fasciculus, ventral trigemino-thalamic tract and paramedian pontine reticular formation in the rostral pons.




J Med Cases. 2014;5(2):55-57
doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.14740/jmc1635w