[Monocular ocular bobbing]

Abstract

The ocular bobbing phenomenon consists of involuntary, abrupt, usually conjugate, brisk downward eye movements followed by a slow return to midposition; it is most often observed in cases of coma due to pontine vascular lesions. In the patient reported here, with a coma after basilar thrombosis, the movement was initially conjugate and subsequently limited to one eye, as described by SUSAC and coworkers under the heading "monocular bobbing" in 1970. The movement was increased in amplitude and frequency by labirintine caloric stimulation as well as by non specific manoeuvres like neck skin pinching and visual stimulation. Post-mortem examination showed a large ischaemic infarction of the pons, of the middle cerebellar peduncles and of the white matter of one cerebellar hemisphere.