[Delayed contralateral hemiplegia complicating ophthalmic herpes zoster].

Contralateral hemiplegia may develop a few weeks after the onset of an ophthalmic herpes zoster. This complication, which is not part of the herpetic encephalopathy, generally coexists with lesions of arteritis demonstrable by arteriography, affecting in most cases the proximal segments of the middle and anterior cerebral arteries and resulting in infarcts. The pathophysiology of these lesions is uncertain, but the vessels appear to be invaded by contiguity.