Lee M S, Galetta S L, Volpe N J, Liu G T
Department of Ophthalmology, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Scheie Eye Institute, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, USA.
Pediatr Neurol. 1999 Jan;20(1):49-52. doi: 10.1016/s0887-8994(98)00090-3.
The causes of sixth nerve palsies in 75 children, all of whom had undergone modern neuroimaging, were reviewed. Neoplasms or their neurosurgical removal was the most common cause (n = 34 [45%]); elevated intracranial pressure (nontumor) (15%), traumatic (12%), congenital (11%), inflammatory (7%), miscellaneous (5%), and idiopathic (5%) causes represented other categories but were less commonly present. Isolated sixth nerve palsies were relatively uncommon (9%). On the basis of the relatively high risk of neoplasm, the authors suggest neuroimaging early in the clinical course of children with sixth nerve palsies, even if the palsy is isolated.
