Isolated inferior rectus paresis with falling eye phenomenon of the contralateral eye in a patient with pineal tumor: a case report.

PRUPOSE: To report a patient who developed an isolated inferior rectus paresis due to a pineal gland tumor, and to our knowledge never reported before. Our purpose is also to demonstrate that, even in partial and mild inferior rectus muscle paresis, the findings of the inhibitional palsy described by Chavasse and the downshoot of the fellow eye in adduction help determine the diagnosis.

METHODS

A patient with pineal gland tumor demonstrated findings characteristic of unilateral isolated inferior rectus paresis.

CONCLUSIONS

Although bilateral sixth nerve paresis and Parinaud's syndrome are commonly reported in pineal gland tumors; in the the presence of an isolated inferior rectus palsy, one should also consider the pineal gland as the causative factor.