Hemorrhage in the oculomotor nerve as a complication of leukemia

Oculomotor paralysis of a patient with leukemia was revealed at autopsy to be caused by a hemorrhage in the oculomotor nerve. In a 63-year-old woman with pre-B-cell acute lymphatic leukemia, leukemic invasions occurred in her spinal cord and right oculomotor nerve during a hematological remission state. The oculomotor palsy was aggravated to complete paralysis during a leukemic relapse, which lasted until her death. An autopsy revealed a hemorrhage along with leukemic cells in the right oculomotor nerve at the segment in the upper orbital fissure. Although hemorrhagic oculomotor paralysis is a very rare complication, reports of its occurrence will likely increase with improved survival times of leukemia patients due to advances in chemotherapy.