A 68-year-old man with a pontine telangiectasia on anticoagulation developed a left conjugate gaze palsy and right hemiparesis (figure; video on the Neurology® Web site at Neurology.org). Brain MRI showed acute pontine hemorrhage extending dorsally and to the left.
Figure. Foville syndrome.
(A) Normal right gaze. (B) Complete horizontal left conjugate gaze palsy. (C) Right hemiparesis. (D) T2-weighted axial MRI with acute hemorrhage in the pons extending dorsally and to the left (arrow).
After seeing a similar patient in 1858, Foville1 inferred that a lesion in the left dorsal pons affected the descending corticospinal tract before its decussation and the structures innervating the left lateral and right medial recti. He developed the concept of conjugate gaze to explain how “antagonistic muscles, which are innervated by different nerves, cooperate in a single action” (authors' translation). The complete syndrome described by Foville also includes an ipsilateral fascicular facial palsy.
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AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS
Chindhuri Selvadurai assisted with clinical care of the patient, drafted the manuscript, and edited figure content. M. William Rondeau assisted with clinical care of the patient and with filming the video content. Dr. Rene Colorado assisted with clinical care of the patient. Dr. Steven Feske translated the original article from French and revised the manuscript. Dr. Sashank Prasad assisted with filming the video content, revised the manuscript, and edited film and figure content.
STUDY FUNDING
No targeted funding reported.
DISCLOSURE
The authors report no disclosures relevant to the manuscript. Go to Neurology.org for full disclosures.
REFERENCE
- 1.Foville A. Note sur une paralysie peu connue de certains muscles de l'oeil, et sa liaison avec quelques points de l'anatomie et la physiologie de la protubérance annulaire. Bull Soc Anat Paris 1858;33:393–414. [Google Scholar]
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