Brissaud-Sicard syndrome caused by a diffuse brainstem glioma. A rare differential diagnosis of hemifacial spasm

摘要

Dear Editor, Brissaud-Sicard syndrome is a pontine-crossed syndrome, which obligatorily comprises ipsilateral facial cramps and con-tralateral hemiparesis. The syndrome was first described by the French physician Adolphe Gubler in 1856 [2]. However, the syndrome bears the name of two other French physicians, Edouard Brissaud and Jean Athanase Sicard. In 1908, they provided a very detailed clinical description of three patients, who were claimed to suffer from syphilis with secondary cerebro-vascular involvement. The authors argued that there was a lesion in the pyramidal tract in the basilar pons with additional irritation of the intrapontine fibres of the facial nerve. No post-mortem examination was performed in these cases [1].