Ocular Palsies With Nasal Sinusitis

The diagnosis of nasal sinusitis as a cause of ocular palsy has recently fallen into disfavour, particularly since the importance of congenital aneurysm as a cause of third nerve palsy has been recognized.It is the purpose of this communication to record a series of fully investigated cases of ocular palsy observed over some years, in which the palsies were associated with the presence of a chronic infection of the nasal sinuses.We made a short preliminary report of these cases in 1948.*Since then one further example has been added to the series. Historical ReviewThe association of ocular palsies with nasal sinus infection has been recognized for many years.Trantas (1893) described a patient with left ex- ophthalmos and total left ophthalmoplegia, in whom recovery from ocular palsy followed drainage of the infected sinuses, though severe visual loss resulted, with optic atrophy.Trantas mentions the occur- rence of other cases of sinus disease with blindness and third nerve palsy in the literature.Further early cases in the continental literature are quoted by Onodi (1914) andRollet (1933).In recent times the relatively few recorded cases include those with isolated third nerve palsy (Sluder, 1927;