Medical Syndromes

Eponymous Medical Syndromes

Medical eponyms are terms used in medicine which are named after people. Eponymns are so-called because they take their names from their chief protagonists (either doctors or patients, but occasionally places or things). They are our sole route to an exotic variety of obscure fame: "if one was a drunkard and one's name was Johnny Walker one could form a society called Alcoholics Eponymous."

BROWSE THROUGH EPONYMOUS SYNDROMES

Medical Eponyms

  • A
  • Alice in Wonderland Syndrome (AIWS)
  • Arnold-Chiari malformation
  • Asherman syndrome

  • B
  • Baker's cyst
  • Barrett's oesophagus
  • Bazin's disease
  • Behcet's disease
  • Bell's palsy
  • Berger's disease (IgA nephropathy)
  • Bickerstaff's brainstem encephalitis
  • Bornholm disease (Devil's grip)
  • Brown-Sequard syndrome
  • Budd-Chiari syndrome
  • Burger's disease (Thromboangiitis obliterans)
  • Brugada syndrome

  • C
  • Charcot-Marie-Tooth syndrome (Peroneal muscular atrophy)
  • Cholesterol Embolism syndrome
  • Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease
  • Curtis-Fitz-Hugh syndrome

  • D
  • Daughter from California syndrome
  • De Quervain syndrome
  • De Quervain throiditis (Granulomatous thyroiditis)
  • Devic's syndrome (Neuromyelitis optica)
  • Dressler's syndrome
  • Dubin-Johnson syndrome
  • Dupuytren's contracture

  • E
  • Ekbom's syndrome

  • F
  • Fabry's disease
  • Fanconi anaemia
  • Felty's syndrome
  • Fitz-Hugh-Curtis syndrome
  • Foster Kennedy syndrome
  • Friedreich's ataxia
  • Froin's syndrome

  • G
  • Gardner's syndrome
  • Gélineau's syndrome
  • Gerstmann's syndrome
  • Gilbert's syndrome
  • Gilles de la Tourette syndrome
  • Goodpasture's syndrome
  • Guillain-Barré polyneuritis

  • H
  • Henoch-Schönlein purpura (HSP)
  • Horner's syndrome
  • Huntington's chorea

  • K
  • Kaposi's sarcoma (KS)
  • Korsakoff's syndrome
  • Kluver-Bucy syndrome

  • L
  • Lambert-Eaton syndrome
  • Leriche's syndrome
  • Löffler's eosinophilic carditis
  • Löffler's syndrome (Pulmonary eosinophilia)
  • M
  • McArdle's glycogen storage disease (Type V)
  • Mallory-Weiss tear
  • Marchiafava-Bignami syndrome
  • Marchiafava-Micheli syndrome
  • Marfan's syndrome
  • Meig's syndrome
  • Ménétrier's disease
  • Meyer-Betz syndrome
  • Mikulicz's syndrome
  • Milroy's syndrome
  • Münchausen's syndrome

  • N
  • Nelson's syndrome

  • O
  • Ogilvie's syndrome
  • Ortner's cardiovocal syndrome
  • Osler-Weber-Rendu syndrome (Hereditary haemorrhagic telangiectasis)

  • P
  • Paget's disease of breast
  • Pancoast's syndrome
  • Peutz-Jegher's syndrome
  • Peyronie's disease
  • Pott's syndrome
  • Prinzmetal (variant) angina

  • R
  • Raynaud's syndrome
  • Refsum's syndrome
  • Rotor syndrome

  • S
  • Sjogren's syndrome
  • Stein-Leventhal syndrome (now known as, Polycystic Ovary syndrome)
  • Steven-Johnson syndrome
  • Sturge-Weber syndrome

  • T
  • Takayasu's arteritis (Aortic arch syndrome)
  • Tietze's syndrome (idiopathic costochondritis)
  • Todd's palsy
  • Tropical splenomegaly syndrome (Hyperreactive malaria splenomegaly)

  • V
  • Vincent's angina
  • Von Hippel-Lindau syndrome
  • Von Willebrand's disease (vWD)

  • W
  • Waterhouse-Friederichsen's syndrome
  • Weber's syndrome
  • Wegener's granulomatosis
  • Wernicke's encephalopathy
  • Whipple's disease
  • Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome

  • Z
  • Zollinger-Ellison syndrome
Monochromatic doctors may try to abolish eponyms seeking to replace them with histologically driven disease titles. But classifications vary as more becomes known, so renaming of non-eponyms becomes essential. Eponyms carry on forever, because they imply nothing about causes. We like eponyms - and, where possible, the use of the term syndrome rather than disease. A syndrome is a collection of phenomena and is neutral on whether the collection is a disease. To tell someone with Gilles de La Tourette's syndrome that they have a disease is a slap in the face-when the condition is bound up by who they are ("I tic therefore I am"). Syndromes can sound dire to patients, or falsely glamorous.

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