Horners syndrome pearls

Note-skipping standard textbook items, this is a(my) blog and I am ONLY including minutiae that I want to remember later and am purposely omitting much common information about horner's that is already well known to me. This post is based on H Wilhelm, "The Pupil" Curr Opin Neurol 21:36-42 2008.

1. Many cases of Horners after evaluation remain idiopathic.
2. Iatrogenic Horners after subclavian/jugular venous puncture is fairly common and well reported
3. Carotid dissection is associated with 25 or 37 % Horners s., and the key clinical pearl is the association of PAIN and acuity. 15 % have a bad outcome so beware of this diagnosis.
4. Beware of VI paresis and Horners which usually localizes to cavernous sinus and indicates a mass lesion there.
5. Previously unknown mediastinal tumors are RARE. Only two percent of bronchogenic tumors are Pancoast tumors . Other tumors that RARELY present are thyroid (usually benign goiter but could be CA) and nasopharyngeal CA.
6. In children neuroblastoma is fairly common and needs to be ruled out. rhabdomyosarcomas and gangliogliomas also are reported in this population.
7. Cocaine testing in texts is difficult to the trouble getting cocaine drops. Apraclonidine can be an effective substitute. Like cocaine, the pupil is only denervated in the third neuron in the arc and only such third neuron lesions dilate with apraclonidine. It does reverse anisocoria in such cases. The jury is truly not back in for apraclonidine. More studies are indicated.
8. To differentiate meiosis in Horners from physiologic anisocoria, check time to dilatation in darkness. Infrared video can be used if available. Normal pupils start to filate by .5-1 s and reach maximal dilatation by 5 s, whereas Horner pupils reach maximal dilatation by 10 seconds. Its only sensitive if repeated about four times; if only done once, it will most likely be false negative, if done four times, is 83 % sensitive.

More facts about Horner's
9. Reported after chest tube insertion
10. reported after cervical block/epidural
11. Klumpke's paralysis, goiter,MS sympathectomy, chiari, lateral medullary infarct,acute otitis, mandibular abscess, neuroblastoma,and cervical rib are other causes
12. Signs may include loss of ciliospinal reflex, heterochromia (iris)
13. In animals leashes if too tight can cause Horner's syndrome
14. Drugs are overlooked cause esp drugs that affect DA levels
14. Sweating pattern analyzed by Morris lee and Lim:
The distribution of sweating on the face was studied in 31 patients with Horner’s syndrome. In patients whose lesion was known to be distal to the bifurcation of the common carotid artery impairment of sweating was confined to the medial aspect of the forehead and side of the nose. In more proximal lesions loss of sweating involved the whole of one side of the face. Facial sweating was normal in 6 patients with avulsion injuries of the brachial plexus and in 2 patients with a lateral meduliary syndrome. These findings suggest that the pattern of sweating in Horner's syndrome may be useful in some patients in localizing the site of the lesion. (Brain, 1984)