Cestan-Chenais syndrome

Cestan-Chenais syndrome is a rare brainstem stroke syndrome with features between that of the hemimedullary syndrome (Reinhold syndrome) and the lateral medullary syndrome (Wallenberg syndrome), but distinct to that of Babinski-Nageotte syndrome ^1,2. 

Clinical presentation

Cestan-Chenais syndrome is considered an intermediolateral medullary syndrome, which includes most features of the lateral medullary syndrome except ipsilateral hemiataxia, but also having contralateral hemiparesis/hemiplegia ^1,2.

Pathology

It is likely that the most common cause of Cestan-Chenais syndrome is a posterior circulation ischemic stroke ¹.

Radiographic features

Lesions are in the medulla with imaging characteristics dependent on the underlying cause.

History and etymology

The syndrome was named after French physicians Étienne Jacques Marie Raymond Cestan (1872-1934) and Louis Jean Chenais (1872-1950) who described the entity in 1903 ³.