© 2002 British Journal of Ophthalmology
LETTER
Asymptomatic oculopalatal myoclonus: an unusual case
Tennent Institute of Ophthalmology, Gartnavel General Hospital, Great Western Road, Glasgow G12 0YN, UK
Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Dr Cackett
Accepted 12 July 2001
Keywords: oculopalatal myoclonus
Oculopalatal myoclonus is characterised by rhythmic pendular vertical eye movements associated with synchronous contraction of the soft palate.1 It produces intractable oscillopsia,2 and is normally the result of brainstem haemorrhage.2 However, it is does not usually become manifest until several months or even years later, with the longest recorded interval being 49 months.3 We present an unusual case of a patient who sustained a brainstem haemorrhage following trauma. Eight years later he was incidentally noted to have oculopalatal myoclonus, and surprisingly was asymptomatic.
A 61 year old man was admitted to the neurosurgery department following head trauma. A computed tomography (CT) scan showed subarachnoid bleeding. An magnetic resonance image (MRI) revealed left frontal and posterior parietal contusions and a small brainstem haemorrhage. Following the head injury he complained of double vision on downgaze. Examination revealed bilateral fourth cranial nerve palsies, which resolved spontaneously.
Nine months later the patient developed acute
CiteULike 
Complore 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us 
Digg 
Reddit 
Technorati What's this?
- Full Text
- Full Text (PDF)
- Submit a response
- Alert me when this article is cited
- Alert me when eLetters are posted
- Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
- Email this link to a friend
- Similar articles in this journal
- Similar articles in PubMed
- Add article to my folders
- Download to citation manager
- Request Permissions
Citing Articles
Google Scholar
PubMed
Bookmark with
Register for free content
The full back archive is now available for all BMJ Journals. Institutional subscribers may access the entire archive as part of their subscription. Personal subscribers will also have access to all content when logged in. Non-subscribers who register have free access to all articles published before 2006 right back to volume 1 issue 1. Register here to access the free archive of all BMJ Journals.
Don't forget to sign up for content alerts so you keep up to date with all the articles as they are published.
