Isolated Oculomotor Nerve Palsy in Mild Traumatic Brain Injury

Background: Isolated oculomotor nerve palsy is rarely encountered after mild traumatic brain injury. It is difficult to offer patients accurate management strategies or prognostic assessments because only a few reports have described the management of oculomotor nerve palsy.

Methods: We performed a search for all clinical studies of isolated oculomotor nerve palsy after mild traumatic brain injury published up to July 9, 2019. We placed no restrictions on language or year of publication in our search, and we searched the following key words: traumatic brain injury, isolated oculomotor nerve palsy, mild head trauma, management, and prognosis.

Results: We identified 14 cases of isolated oculomotor nerve palsy after mild traumatic brain injury. In three cases, steroids were used to manage the oculomotor nerve palsy. Five patients who had underlying brain lesions underwent surgery, and seven patients were observed and followed up. The time to partial or complete resolution was 6.0 ± 5.3 mos with a range of 0.5-18 mos.

Conclusions: This review includes a survey of surgical treatment for the management of traumatic brain injury that underlies oculomotor nerve palsies, steroid therapy to reduce related brain edema, and oculomotor rehabilitation with training eye movement behavior.