Causes of VI cranial nerve palsy (abducens nerve)

Abducens nerve palsy is a common condition in neuro-ophthalmology, and it is the oculomotor nerve most frequently affected in isolation. The most common cause is the ischemic microvascular involvement and then a wide variety of entities that can affect different segments of this cranial nerve. The diagnosis is clinical and imaging studies are fundamental for the detail analysis of the nerve in each of its segments, being fundamental a profound anatomical knowledge. In this iconographic essay we will review the anatomy of the VI cranial nerve and the most important imaging features of different processes that most frequently involve it.