The latero-medial inferior pontine syndrome.

A case is presented with a pontine vascular lesion involving the V, VI, VII, and VIII cranial nerves. The diagnostic evaluation included audiometry and electronystagmography as well as arteriography, pneumoencephalography, and brain scan. Total deafness developed in the involved ear and was present for seven weeks before complete recovery occurred. Electronystagmographic findings consistent with a brain stem lesion also resolved following recovery of the patient. Audiometry and electronystagmography are described and documented for the first time in a report of a patient with a latero-medial inferior pontine syndrome. A discussion of some of the unique features of the brain stem vasculature and its relationship to clinical syndromes involving the brain stem is given.