Cranial nerve palsy

Etiology

  • Microvascular infarction, eg, diabetes, hypertension
  • Multiple sclerosis
  • Acute or chronic otitis media
  • Malignant otitis externa
  • Infiltrating process at skull base: meningitis, sarcoidosis, intracranial metastases, lymphoma, nasopharyngeal cancer
  • Brainstem infarct or vertebrobasilar insufficiency
  • Arterial dissection, eg, internal carotid, vertebral
  • Compression by aneurysm or tumor
  • Neurosyphilis
  • Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE)
  • Neurofibromatosis
  • Paget's disease
  • Myasthenia gravis
  • Guillain-Barré syndrome
  • Diphtheria
  • Glomus jugulare (middle ear tumor)
  • Pituitary apoplexy
  • Graves' ophthalmopathy (not a palsy, but affects extraocular movements)

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Last updated: December 1, 2014