Background: Internuclear ophthalmoplegia (INO) is rarely caused by a focal traumatic brain injury (TBI) affecting a medial longitudinal fasciculus (MLF) lesion.
Purpose: To report a rare case of traumatic INO caused by diffuse axonal injury (DAI) at the pontine tegmentum.
Case report: A 20-year-old male arrived at the trauma center three hours after a motorcycle accident. He briefly lost consciousness but regained it with a full Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score, though he could not recall the incident. The patient denies headaches, and reports no weakness or neck pain, but complains of binocular diplopia and oscillopsia. Ocular motility and alignment demonstrated a large angle exotropia with an adduction deficit in the right eye and abducting nystagmus in the left eye. Pendular vertical nystagmus and intact convergence were also observed. An emergency non-contrast computed tomography (CT) scan of the brain revealed a soft tissue injury in the left occipital region, with no evidence of acute intracranial hemorrhage or skull fracture. Contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain was performed 48 hours after injury and revealed a T2/FLAIR-hyperintense lesion with restricted diffusion and small T2 blooming artifact focus at the right side of pontine tegmentum, which could represent diffuse axonal injury (DAI) from microhemorrhages. Management was observed for a recovery of motility and subjective diplopia.
Conclusions: This case suggests that although INO is rarely caused by TBI, it can occur as a result of DAI due to microhemorrhages in the brainstem. Therefore, this condition should also be considered in patients with minor head trauma.
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