Barré-Lieou syndrome and the problem of the obsolete eponym.

BACKGROUND: Eponym lists in major sources can give an aura of legitimacy to discredited diagnoses, as exemplified by the case of Barré-Lieou syndrome, a 'rare' vestibular disorder. METHODS: A literature review for information on the posterior cervical syndrome of Barré-Lieou. RESULTS: Barré-Lieou syndrome includes very common symptoms--tinnitus, dizziness, and head or neck pain--attributed to ischaemia caused by cervical sympathetic nerve compression. Its original description brings together many unrelated disorders, and its causative mechanism has been discredited. However, it appears credulously in a number of eponym lists, and references to the syndrome are steadily increasing on the internet in general and on alternative medicine and legal profession websites in particular. CONCLUSION: By inclusion in eponym lists, without a disclaimer, a syndrome can be given legitimacy before the general public. A syndrome, such as Barré-Lieou syndrome, that is useless to the medical profession can unfortunately prove to be very useful for litigants and disability claimants.

[Evolution of conception on apoplexoid (lei zhong feng) disorder].

Viewing separately from the etiology and the disease itself, the ancient literature gave two definitions, totally different from each other, for apoplexoid disorders within the category of apoplexy, each experienced a process of starting, development and evolution stages. Both exerted an active promotion to the development of apoplexy.

[Cerebrovascular stroke, the cause of the death of the caliph al-Hakam II]. / Un accidente cerebrovascular, causa de la muerte del califa al-Hakam II.

al-Hakam II was the ninth sovereign in the Hispano-Omeyan dynasty and the second caliph of Spain under the Moors. In the night of the 1st of October 976 he died as the result of a disease that had afflicted him for two years old. Cerebrovascular stroke first manifested as hemiplegia. The disease that afflicted the caliph was called al-'illat alfalichiya, or alfeliche in Castilian Spanish, which means the disease of hemiplegia. The caliph was 61 years old and led a sedentary life and was therefore predisposed to suffer ischemic cerebrovascular events. Climate may have played a role in triggering the stroke. Several authors have found that the incidences of ischemic infarcts and intracranial hemorrhages increase during the winter months and on cold days, particularly in patients under 65. The chronicler of the al-Razi period tells us that heavy snow fell in and around Córdoba in 974 and that the following months saw rain and strong winds. We can deduce that caliph al-Hakam II died of a cerebrovascular event and that, based on the few data available, it is likely that the infarction was ischemic and of atherothrombotic origin. Caliph al-Hakam II moved his household from Madinat al-Zahra' to Alcázar de Córdoba as a result of the "recommendation of his doctors because the cold of the Sierra stirred up his humors". This interpretation is correct according to Arab medicine, which is following the line of the ancient Greeks regarding natural faculties, the elements and their corresponding humors.

[Medical treatment abroad. Why Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson died in Paris 1910]. / Medisinsk behandling i utlandet. Hvorfor Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson døde i Paris 1910.

The Norwegian poet and playwright Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson (1832-1910), Nobel prize laureate in literature 1903, died in Paris. He had suffered from angina pectoris for a few years and had difficulties in walking because of thrombophlebitis in his right leg. In 1909, he had received electrotherapy from a French physiologist, Dr. d'Arsonval, in Paris and felt rejuvenated after the treatment. In May 1909, while undergoing spa treatment in Larvik, he had an apoplexy which left him with a left hemiparesis, presumably due to a thrombosis of the right internal carotid artery. He became bedridden, developed focal epilepsy and was unable to participate in the national cultural activities that used to be part of his life. He then decided to return to Paris for another series of electrotherapy. He was brought to Paris in the Royal Danish railway carriage, and was received at the border as an official guest of the French republic. The electrotherapy machine was installed in his room at Hotel Wagram, where he stayed for several months while receiving treatment. However, his health deteriorated during the treatment and he died in Paris in April 1910.

[Vascular brain lesions and ischemic heart disease]. / Sosudistye porazheniia mozga i ishemicheskaia bolezn' serdtsa.

The role of essential hypertension in the pathogenesis of cerebral vessel disorders (not only hemorrhagic, but also ischemic) is greater than in the pathogenesis of the heart ischemic disease. An analysis of the evidences left by ancient doctors, when compared with statistical data of our time, gives one grounds to believe that cerebral hemorrhages have been a rather common disease, at least, since the time of the antique civilization of Greece and Rome, whereas ischemic heart disease has become a widespread disease among the population of the developed countries only in our time. This makes it possible to assume that the role of essential hypertension and that of atherosclerosis are not equal in the "diseases of civilization", if the diseases of today's developed society are meant.