clinical features

Last reviewed 01/2018

The clinical features of a hypoglossal nerve palsy include:

• loss of power of movement of the tongue

• when examined at rest there may be tongue wasting and fasciculation. These signs indicate lower motor neurone lesion.

• if the patient pokes his tongue out towards the examiner, then the tongue will deviate towards the weaker - affected - side in a unilateral lesion.

• an upper motor neurone lesion of the hypoglossal nerve is usually bilateral and presents with a small, immobile tongue. The combination of a bilateral upper motor neurone lesion of the ninth, tenth and twelfth cranial nerves is called pseudobulbar palsy.