QUADRIPARESIS AND NUCLEAR OCULOMOTOR PALSY WITH TOTAL BILATERAL PTOSIS MIMICKING COMA - MESENCEPHALIC LOCKED-IN SYNDROME

Upper lid and vertical eye movements are usually preserved in patients with the “locked-in” syndrome, a condition manifested by anarthria, spastic quadriparesis, and intact mental function, and caused by lesions in the ventral portion of the pons. We describe a presumed mesencephalic “locked-in” syndrome in a patient who had total bilateral ptosis at the onset of his disease and later on experienced complete bilateral oculomotor nerve paralysis. © 1979, American Medical Association. All rights reserved.