Foville's syndrome is caused by the blockage of the perforating branches of the

basilar artery The basilar artery () is one of the arteries that supplies the brain with oxygen-rich blood. The two vertebral arteries and the basilar artery are known as the vertebral basilar system, which supplies blood to the posterior part of the circle of W ...

in the region of the brainstem known as the

pons The pons (from Latin , "bridge") is part of the brainstem that in humans and other bipeds lies inferior to the midbrain, superior to the medulla oblongata and anterior to the cerebellum. The pons is also called the pons Varolii ("bridge of Va ...

. It is most frequently caused by lesions such as vascular disease and tumors involving the dorsal pons. Structures affected by the lesion are the dorsal pons (pontine tegmentum) which comprises paramedian pontine reticular formation (PPRF), nuclei of cranial nerves VI and VII,

corticospinal tract The corticospinal tract is a white matter motor pathway starting at the cerebral cortex that terminates on lower motor neurons and interneurons in the spinal cord, controlling movements of the limbs and trunk. There are more than one million neur ...

medial lemniscus In neuroanatomy, the medial lemniscus, also known as Reil's band or Reil's ribbon (for German anatomist Johann Christian Reil), is a large ascending bundle of heavily myelinated axons that decussate (cross) in the brainstem, specifically in the ...

, and the medial longitudinal fasciculus. There is involvement of the fifth to eighth cranial nerves, central sympathetic fibres (Horner syndrome) and horizontal gaze palsy.

Presentation

This produces ipsilateral

horizontal gaze palsy A gaze palsy is the paresis of conjugate eye movements. Horizontal gaze palsy may be caused by lesions in the cerebral hemispheres, which cause paresis of gaze away from the side of the lesion, or from brain stem lesions, which, if they occur be ...

and facial nerve palsy and contralateral

hemiparesis Hemiparesis, or unilateral paresis, is weakness of one entire side of the body ('' hemi-'' means "half"). Hemiplegia is, in its most severe form, complete paralysis of half of the body. Hemiparesis and hemiplegia can be caused by different medi ...

, hemisensory loss, and

internuclear ophthalmoplegia Internuclear ophthalmoplegia (INO) is a disorder of conjugate lateral gaze in which the affected eye shows impairment of adduction. When an attempt is made to gaze contralaterally (relative to the affected eye), the affected eye adducts minimally ...

Diagnosis

Treatment

History

Foville's syndrome was initially described by

Achille-Louis Foville Achille-Louis Foville (6 August 1799 – 22 June 1878) was a French people, French Neurology, neurologist and Psychiatry, psychiatrist. He produced the first description of the terminal stria. Life Foville was born in Pontoise, France and rec ...

, a French physician, in 1859.

References

External links

Stroke Syndromes affecting the nervous system {{nervoussystem-disease-stub