Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
The abducens nerve or abducent nerve, also known as the sixth cranial nerve, cranial nerve VI, or simply CN VI, is a cranial nerve in humans and various other animals that controls the movement of the lateral rectus muscle, one of the extraocular muscles responsible for outward gaze.
Sixth nerve palsy is a condition where damage to a specific nerve disrupts eye movement and alignment. It’s usually one-sided (unilateral) and affects one eye only, but it can sometimes affect both eyes (bilateral).
Cranial nerve six (CN VI), also known as the abducens nerve, is 1 of the nerves responsible for the extraocular motor functions of the eye, along with the oculomotor nerve (CN III) and the trochlear nerve (CN IV).
The abducens nerve is the sixth paired cranial nerve. It has a purely somatic motor function – providing innervation to the lateral rectus muscle. In this article, we shall look at the anatomy of the abducens nerve – its anatomical course, motor functions and clinical relevance.
The abducens (or abducent) nerve is the sixth paired cranial nerve (CN VI). Along with the oculomotor nerve (CN III) and the trochlear nerve (CN IV), it is a purely motor nerve responsible for controlling movement of the eyeball.
Sixth cranial (abducens) nerve palsy typically results from small-vessel disease, particularly in diabetics, but the cause is often unidentified. This palsy causes impaired abduction and horizontal diplopia.
The sixth cranial nerve runs a long course from the brainstem to the lateral rectus muscle. Based on the location of an abnormality, other neurologic structures may be involved with the pathology related to this nerve.
A sixth cranial nerve palsy most commonly arises from an acquired lesion occurring anywhere along its path between the sixth nucleus in the dorsal pons and the lateral rectus muscle within the orbit. The clinical manifestations, evaluation, and diagnosis of sixth nerve palsy are reviewed here.
The abducens nerve, the sixth cranial nerve (CN VI), is responsible for ipsilateral eye abduction. Dysfunction of the abducens nerve can occur at any point of its transit from the pons to the lateral rectus muscle, resulting in sixth nerve palsy.
Sixth cranial nerve palsy has many causes, including damage to small blood vessels by diabetes, but the cause is often unidentified. The affected eye cannot turn fully outward and may turn inward when people look straight ahead.