Essential Neuro-Ophthalmic Disorders Flash Cards for Learning

Neuro-Ophthalmic Disorders Flash Cards

Horner Syndrome

A disruption of the sympathetic nerve pathway producing ptosis, miosis, and facial anhidrosis, often indicating an underlying neurologic or vascular disorder.

Third Cranial Nerve Palsy

An oculomotor nerve palsy causing ptosis, ophthalmoplegia, diplopia, and possible pupil involvement that may signal a compressive aneurysm.

Fourth Cranial Nerve Palsy

A trochlear nerve palsy causing vertical or oblique diplopia that often improves with a compensatory head tilt away from the affected side.

Sixth Cranial Nerve Palsy

An abducens nerve palsy resulting in impaired eye abduction, horizontal diplopia, and an inward deviation of the affected eye.

Multiple Cranial Nerve Palsies

Simultaneous dysfunction of two or more cranial nerves, often caused by tumors, infection, inflammation, trauma, or lesions affecting the skull base.

Cavernous Sinus Syndrome

A disorder affecting the cavernous sinus that causes painful ophthalmoplegia, multiple cranial nerve deficits, sensory loss, and sometimes proptosis.

Orbital Apex Syndrome

A vision-threatening condition involving the orbital apex that causes optic neuropathy, ophthalmoplegia, ptosis, and sensory loss due to multiple cranial nerve involvement.

Internuclear Ophthalmoplegia (INO)

A lesion of the medial longitudinal fasciculus causing impaired adduction of one eye with abducting nystagmus of the fellow eye during horizontal gaze.

One-and-a-Half Syndrome

A brainstem disorder caused by combined lesions of the medial longitudinal fasciculus and adjacent abducens nucleus, producing horizontal gaze palsy with internuclear ophthalmoplegia.

Skew Deviation

A vertical ocular misalignment caused by lesions of the brainstem or cerebellum, resulting in vertical diplopia that may mimic a fourth cranial nerve palsy.

Parinaud Syndrome (Dorsal Midbrain Syndrome)

A dorsal midbrain disorder characterized by impaired upward gaze, light-near dissociation, convergence-retraction nystagmus, and eyelid retraction.

Nystagmus

Involuntary rhythmic oscillations of the eyes that may be congenital or acquired and can reduce visual acuity, binocular vision, and gaze stability.

Convergence Insufficiency

A binocular vision disorder characterized by reduced ability to converge during near tasks, causing eyestrain, headaches, and intermittent double vision.

Convergence Spasm

An intermittent excessive convergence response accompanied by accommodation and pupillary constriction that may mimic an abducens nerve palsy.

Divergence Insufficiency

A binocular vision disorder characterized by impaired divergence, producing horizontal diplopia that is typically worse when viewing distant objects.

Ocular Myasthenia Gravis

An autoimmune neuromuscular disorder causing fluctuating ptosis and diplopia due to fatigable weakness of the extraocular muscles.

Chronic Progressive External Ophthalmoplegia (CPEO)

A mitochondrial disorder characterized by slowly progressive bilateral ptosis and ophthalmoplegia with minimal or absent pupillary involvement.

Bell’s Palsy

An acute idiopathic facial nerve (cranial nerve VII) palsy causing unilateral facial weakness, incomplete eyelid closure, exposure keratopathy, and impaired blinking.

Hemifacial Spasm

A neuromuscular disorder characterized by involuntary, intermittent contractions of the muscles on one side of the face, most commonly caused by facial nerve compression.

Homonymous Hemianopia

A visual field defect involving the same half of the visual field in both eyes, resulting from lesions affecting the post-chiasmal visual pathway.

Bitemporal Hemianopia

A loss of the temporal visual fields in both eyes caused by compression of the optic chiasm, most commonly from a pituitary adenoma.

Quadrantanopia

A visual field defect involving one-quarter of the visual field due to lesions of the optic radiations or occipital cortex.

Cortical Blindness

Loss of vision caused by bilateral damage to the occipital cortex despite normal ocular structures and intact pupillary light reflexes.

Multiple Sclerosis

A chronic autoimmune demyelinating disease of the central nervous system that commonly presents with optic neuritis, internuclear ophthalmoplegia, and other neuro-ophthalmic manifestations.

Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension (IIH)

A disorder of elevated intracranial pressure without an identifiable cause, commonly presenting with headaches, transient visual obscurations, pulsatile tinnitus, and papilledema.

Migraine With Aura

A neurologic disorder characterized by transient visual, sensory, or speech disturbances that precede or accompany migraine headaches.

Recurrent Painful Ophthalmoplegic Neuropathy

A rare neurologic disorder characterized by recurrent headaches followed by weakness of one or more ocular cranial nerves, most commonly the oculomotor nerve.

Adie’s Tonic Pupil

A benign neurologic disorder characterized by a dilated pupil with poor light response, slow near constriction, and segmental iris sphincter palsy.

Argyll Robertson Pupil

Small, irregular pupils that accommodate but do not react to light, classically associated with neurosyphilis and lesions of the dorsal midbrain.

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Neuro-Ophthalmic Disorders