Revision of the Semeiology of Facial Paralysis(Special Issue in Hornor of the Retirement of Professor Makoto Iwata at the Department of Neurology, Tokyo Women\u27s Medical University)

According to the classical textbooks of neurological semeiology, unilateral facial paralysis due to upper motor neuron damage is characterized by the sparing of frontal muscle of the involved side. However, a small lesion affecting the facial nucleus at the level of pontine tegmentum which causes lower motor neuron type facial paralysis also spares the frontal muscle. The frontal muscle sparing in nuclear type of facial paralysis might be explained by the hypothetical decussation of facial nerve roots innervating frontal muscle at the level of facial genu. The validity of the hypothesis should be confirmed further clinical studies on facial paralysis.神経内科学教室岩田誠教授退任記念特別