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.