RT Book, Section A1 Singh, Manpreet A1 Whitfield, Denise A2 Knoop, Kevin J. A2 Stack, Lawrence B. A2 Storrow, Alan B. A2 Thurman, R. Jason SR Print(0) ID 1181038519 T1 Sixth-Nerve Palsy T2 The Atlas of Emergency Medicine, 5e YR 2021 FD 2021 PB McGraw-Hill PP New York, NY SN 9781260134940 LK accessemergencymedicine.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=1181038519 RD 2024/03/29 AB The abducens nerve innervates the lateral rectus muscle and is the most common single muscle palsy, causing loss of abduction and resultant horizontal diplopia, worse in ipsilateral gaze. Associated findings are dependent on the location of the lesion. Within the pons, involvement of the corticospinal tract results in contralateral hemiparesis. The abducens has the longest intracranial course of any nerve, and therefore is vulnerable to stretching or compression secondary to elevated intracranial pressure, trauma, neurosurgical manipulation, and cervical traction. Also, any meningeal process (infectious, inflammatory, or neoplastic) can affect this portion of the 6th nerve. Aneurysmal compression is uncommon.