Abducens nerve (CN VI)

Nervus abducens

NervousNervesHeadLeft and right

View left in 3D View right in 3D

What it is
A slender nerve that leaves the junction of the pons and medulla, climbs the clivus inside the dura, bends sharply over the petrous apex and runs through the middle of the cavernous sinus beside the internal carotid artery to the orbit.
Function
Supplies only the lateral rectus, which turns the eye outward (abduction).
Size
About 1-1.5 mm thick; ~4 cm intracranial course
Clinical note
Its long climb up the clivus makes it vulnerable to any rise in intracranial pressure: a sixth-nerve palsy (eye cannot look outward, horizontal double vision) is a classic "false localising sign".

Nearby nervous structures Amygdala, Oculomotor nerve (CN III), Oculomotor nerve root (CN III), Olfactory tract root (CN I), Optic chiasm, Optic nerve (CN II), intracranial part, Optic tract root (CN II), Trigeminal ganglion, Trigeminal nerve (CN V), root, Trochlear nerve (CN IV)