Abstract
We studied prospectively 105 unselected patients complaining of ptosis and/or diplopia due to extrinsic ophthalmic muscle palsies without other neurological signs. All patients underwent the same diagnostic protocol. The presenting symptoms were: ptosis, 35 patients (33%); diplopia, 27 patients (26%); ptosis and diplopia, 43 patients (41%). The oculomotor nerve was most frequently involved, followed by the abducens nerve. The final diagnoses were: ocular myasthenia, intracranial and/or orbital pathology, thyroid ophthalmopathy, diabetic ophthalmoplegia, mitochondrial myopathy, oculopharyngeal muscular dystrophy. In 26 patients (25%) the cause remained undetermined. Our study confirms the difficulty of establishing an aetiological diagnosis in patients with isolated ocular palsies.
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Received: 2 July 1996 Received in revised form: 6 August 1997 Accepted: 12 August 1997
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Batocchi, A., Evoli, A., Majolini, L. et al. Ocular palsies in the absence of other neurological or ocular symptoms: analysis of 105 cases. J Neurol 244, 639–645 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1007/s004150050160
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s004150050160