Abstract
We report the case of a 77-year-old immuno-competent man who developed herpes zoster in the maxillary and mandibular branches of the trigeminal nerve. Within 3 weeks, he developed ipsilateral peripheral facial palsy, hearing loss, vesicles over the external auditory canal, and pain in the face and ear. A T2-weighted MRI of the brain revealed a hyper-intense lesion at the right medulla corresponding to the spinal trigeminal nucleus and tract. Gadolinium enhancement was seen over the right facial nerve. These lesions suggest a possibility of transaxonal spread of the varicella zoster virus between the trigeminal nerve, the facial nerve, and the spinal trigeminal nucleus and tract.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 1045-1046 |
Number of pages | 2 |
Journal | Journal of Neurology |
Volume | 257 |
Issue number | 6 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jun 2010 |
Keywords
- Facial paralysis
- Herpes zoster
- Herpes zoster oticus
- Magnetic resonance imaging
- Ramsay Hunt Syndrome
- Spinal trigeminal nucleus
- Varicella zoster virus