25 non-eponymous neurological disorders… and the names behind them
Medicine is as much defined by diseases as by the people who named them. Neurology particularly has a proud history of eponymous disorders which I discussed in my other neurology blog, Neurochecklists Updates, with the title 45 neurological disorders with unusual EPONYMS in neurochecklists. In many cases, it is a no brainer that Benjamin Duchenne described Duchenne muscular dystrophy, Charle’s Bell is linked to Bell’s palsy, Guido Werdnig and Johann Hoffmann have Werdnig-Hoffmann disease named after them. Similarly, Sergei Korsakoff described Korsakoff’s psychosis, Adolf Wellenberg defined Wellenberg’s syndrome, and it is Augusta Dejerine Klumpke who discerned Klumpke’s paralysis. The same applies to neurological clinical signs, with Moritz Romberg and Romberg’s sign, Henreich Rinne and Rinne’s test, Joseph Babinski and Babinski sign, and Joseph Brudzinski with Brudzinki’s sign.
Yes, it could become rather tiresome. But not when it comes to diseases which, for some reason, never had any names attached to them. Whilst we can celebrate Huntington, Alzheimer, Parkinson, and Friedreich, who defined narcolepsy and delirium tremens? This blog is therefore a chance to celebrate the lesser known history of neurology, and to inject some fairness into the name game. Here then are 25 non-eponymous neurological diseases and the people who discovered, fully described, or named them.
By A. F. Dressler – Festschrift zum 70. Geburtstag Dr. Woldemar Kernig’s: Von Verehrern und Schülern herausgegeben als Festnummer der St. Petersburger medicinischen Wochenschrift St. Petersburger medizinische Wochenschrift, Bd. 35, Nr. 45. (1910), Public Domain, Link
I am a UK Neurologist keen on general neurology, but with an interest in neuromuscular diseases. I maintain the neurology searchable database, www.neurochecklists.com. I also blog at www.theneurologylounge.com. I share and discuss current issues around clinical neurology. I hope you find my blogs enlightening, practical, and even entertaining.
View all posts by Ibrahim Imam
![](http://By <span lang="en">Unknown author</span> - Bibliothèque Interuniversitaire de Médecine - <a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="http://www.bium.univ-paris5.fr/images/banque/zoom/CIPB0452.jpg">http://www.bium.univ-paris5.fr/images/banque/zoom/CIPB0452.jpg</a>, Public Domain, <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1396452">Link</a>)
