Brissaud-Sicard syndrome

Brissaud-Sicard syndrome is a very rare pontine stroke syndrome that involves the anterolateral and inferior pons.

Clinical presentation

Classically, the syndrome presents as ipsilateral facial cramps and contralateral hemiparesis ^1-3.

Pathology

It has been postulated that the syndrome is caused by damage to the pons involving the corticospinal tract and the CN VII nucleus or nerve root ^2,3. It can be caused by a posterior circulation ischemic stroke, as well as other lesions such as neoplasm (e.g. brainstem glioma) ^1-3.

Radiographic features

Lesions are in the pons with imaging characteristics depending on underlying cause.

History and etymology

The syndrome is named after Édouard Brissaud (1852-1909) and Jean Athanase Sicard (1872-1929), French physicians, who described the syndrome in 1908 in patients with infarcts secondary to neurosyphilis ^2,4. However, it was first described over fifty years earlier by Adolphe-Marie Gubler (1821-1879), another French physician, in 1856 ^2,5.