[Facial paralysis with inverse autonomic-voluntary dissociation from a frontal lesion. Cortical origin. Relation to supplementary motor area].

As a result of 6 cases of frontal tumour presenting central facial paralysis with inverse dissociation this symptom was investigated in patients subjected to cortical excisions for intractable epielpsy. A study of 8 cases of frontal cortical excision, 6 of them affecting the internal and posterior portion, and two the prefrontal region, has provided evidence of a link between inverse automatic-voluntary dissociation facial paralysis and lesions affecting the Penfield supplementary motor area. In such cases, facial palsy is usually associated with motor disorders in the limbs, the most characteristic of which is unilateral motor under-utilisation. The possibility of inverse dissociated facial paralysis occurring as a result of a rostral premotor lesion cannot be ruled out in our present state of knowledge.