Purpose: To estimate the spontaneous recovery rate of isolated traumatic sixth-nerve palsy.
Method: A retrospective chart review over a 24-year period at a single institution, excluding patients who were first seen more than 6 weeks after injury, to reduce bias toward nonrecovery.
Results: The Kaplan-Meier survival estimate of spontaneous recovery at 6 months was 27% (95% confidence interval [CI], 5% to 44%) in unilateral traumatic sixth-nerve palsy and 12% (95% CI, 0% to 33%) in bilateral traumatic sixth-nerve palsy.
Conclusion: Spontaneous recovery from isolated traumatic sixth-nerve palsy may be lower than previously reported. A prospective study is needed to provide a more accurate estimate of recovery rate.