The Trouble With Eponyms

Abstract

In a recent issue of the ARCHIVES, Tada et al¹ reported a patient who was given the diagnosis of the Babinski-Nageotte syndrome. This very interesting patient presented with right hemiplegia, loss of pain, and temperature sensation on the left side of his body; ataxia of the right limbs; and dysarthria and weakness of the right palate and tongue. Facial sensory impairment was not mentioned. This patient’s hemiplegia was on the side ipsilateral to the brainstem lesion, and therefore this eponym is not appropriate because Babinski-Nageotte syndrome refers to a lateral medullary syndrome (Wallenberg syndrome) with contralateral hemiplegia.²