A testing time: The cranial nerves revisited

Abstract

The standard cranial nerve tests are well documented and form an essential part of the neurological examination conducted by practitioners on a daily basis; however, the results are not always clear cut and may be difficult to interpret in the absence of a full-blown specific disease entity. It may therefore prove necessary to evaluate the findings in terms of the functional neurology of the brain to appreciate the wider implications of the results.

Objective

To review the standard cranial nerve tests in terms of which tests should be included, how they should be performed, their validity and how widely the results should be evaluated.

Design

A review of clinical procedures taken from available literature retrieved from computerised databases, the worldwide web and authoritative texts.

Method

Information was gathered from a computerised literature search of medline, Science Direct, Cochrane library, Science Citation Index, Scopus, CINAHL and the worldwide web. The search terms used were cranial nerves, cranial tests, cranial nerve testing and the neurological examination.