cranial nerve X palsy

Last reviewed 01/2018

Motor paralysis due to dysfunction of the tenth cranial nerve has the following clinical features:

• loss of reflex contraction of the palate seen in the gag reflex
• hoarseness of voice - this may occur in a unilateral recurrent laryngeal nerve lesion
• a bovine cough may occur with a bilateral recurrent nerve lesion

The intactness of cranial nerves IX and X are usually tested with an overlapping set of tests, thus:

• palatal movement - the gag reflex
• quality of speech:
• nasal
• guttural
• the ability to cough