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Examine spontaneous and reflex eye movements. Intermittent horizontal divergence is common in drowsiness. Slow, to-and-fro horizontal movements suggest bihemispheric dysfunction. Conjugate eye deviation to one side indicates damage to the pons on the opposite side or a lesion in the frontal lobe on the same side (“The eyes look toward a hemispheral lesion and away from a brainstem lesion”). An adducted eye at rest with impaired ability to turn eye laterally indicates an abducens (VI) nerve palsy, common in raised ICP or pontine damage. The eye with a dilated, unreactive pupil is often abducted at rest and cannot adduct fully due to third nerve dysfunction, as occurs with transtentorial herniation. Vertical separation of ocular axes (skew deviation) occurs in pontine or cerebellar lesions. Doll's head maneuver (oculocephalic reflex) and cold caloric-induced eye movements allow diagnosis of gaze or cranial nerve palsies in pts who do not move their eyes purposefully. Doll's head maneuver is tested by observing eye movements in response to lateral rotation of head (this should not be performed in pts with possible neck injury); full conjugate movement of eyes occurs in bihemispheric dysfunction. In comatose pts with intact brainstem function, raising head to 60° above the horizontal and irrigating external auditory canal with cool water causes tonic deviation of gaze to side of irrigated ear (“cold calorics”). In conscious pts, it causes nystagmus, vertigo, and emesis.

Outline

Section 2. Medical Emergencies