ABPN Sample Case

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Phantom Spike

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15+ Year Member
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I just viewed the sample ABPN case posted on their website

http://www.abpn.com/candidates.htm

This patient appears to have a combination of a left Bell's palsy and a one-and-a-half syndrome, with only abduction in the right eye spared and concomitant nystagmus. The latter could be caused by a left pontine stroke (which according the page is the correct answer, although I would think demyelination more likely), but that sure doesn't look like an UNML type facial droop to me. Does the patient have two things going on?
 
Its not a Bell's palsy. It IS a peripheral pattern CN VII lesion. Bell's is only one cause of a peripheral seventh. Remember, the nucleus for CN VII is in the pons, and is analogous to the anterior horn in a sense. Damage to the nucleus causes a lower motor neuron pattern of injury.