Differential Diagnoses of Cranial Nerve 7 Dysfunction

Differential Diagnoses for facial nerve dysfunction using the VITAMINS ABCDEG mnemonic

Vascular

  • Aneurysmal dilation of the vertebral or basilar arteries

  • Pontine stroke involving the CN7 nucleus

Infectious

  • Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)

  • Lyme Disease (borreliosis)

  • Mononucleosis

  • Mycobacterium Leprae (Leprosy)

  • Otitis media (from any microbe)

  • Pachymeningitis

  • Tuberculosis

  • Varicella Zoster virus (Ramsay Hunt Syndrome or chicken pox)

Trauma/Toxin

  • Temporal bone fracture

Autoimmune/Allergic

  • Sarcoidosis

  • Pachymeningitis

Iatrogenic/Idiopathic

  • Bell’s Palsy

  • Middle Ear surgery

Neoplastic/nutritional

  • Acoustic & Vestibular schwannomas

  • Neurofibromas

  • Glomus jugulare tumor

  • Squamous cell carcinoma (perineural invasion)

Anatomic/Structural

  • Parotid gland tumor

Congenital

  • Hereditary Congenital Facial Paresis

Genetic

  • Familial Bell’s Palsy

Other

  • Facial Hemiatrophy (Parry-Romberg Syndrome)