A TYPE OF PARALYSIS OF CONJUGATE GAZE (OCULAR MOTOR APRAXIA)

Abstract

INABILITY to turn the eyes fully in one or more directions resulting from a supranuclear lesion is called paralysis of conjugate gaze. Several types are distinguished. Most familiar is the simple paralysis of conjugate gaze, resulting from a cerebral or brain stem lesion in which the eyes cannot be induced to move to one or both sides by any stimulus other than that arising in the labyrinth. Next, there is the so-called dissociated paralysis of gaze, in which there is unequal involvement of movements on command and on following stimuli. Then there is a type of paralysis due to basal ganglion or tectal disease, in which all control of the eyes for vertical movements is lost except for those movements associated with the labyrinthine, or lid-closing, reflex. While this type has no specific name—indeed, it may be a variant of the simple paralysis of conjugate gaze, referred to above—it has