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Adiposogenital dystrophy historical perspective

Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1] Ogechukwu Hannah Nnabude, MD

Overview

Overview

Harvey Williams Cushing named the condition Fröhlich syndrome after Alfred Fröhlich. French nationals Dr. Jean Camus (1872–1924) and Dr. Gustave Roussy (1874–1948) first undertook systematic and controlled observations of the effects of localized injuries to the basal hypothalamus in dogs and cats by pricking on their infundibulo-tuberal region (ITR) with a heated needle. This series of surgical procedures, performed from 1913 and 1922, led them to claim that both permanent polyuria and adiposogenital dystrophy are symptoms caused by damage to the ITR.

Historical perspective

Historical perspective

Discovery

In 1901, Harvey Williams Cushing named the condition Frohlich syndrome after Alfred Fröhlich, the first person to publish an article regarding an adiposogential syndrome seen in a young boy with a pituitary cyst. He realized that the symptoms described by Frohlich were similar to those of a female patient named Mary D he had who had a similar tumor [1]. In 1902, Harvey Williams Cushing attempted to remove the tumor but failed. The tumor was found at autopsy [1]. The French nationals Dr. Jean Camus (1872–1924) and Dr. Gustave Roussy (1874–1948) first undertook systematic and controlled observations of the effects of localized injuries to the basal hypothalamus in dogs and cats by pricking on their infundibulo-tuberal region (ITR) with a heated needle. This series of surgical procedures, performed from 1913 and 1922, led them to claim that both permanent polyuria and adiposogenital dystrophy are symptoms caused by damage to the ITR.[2]

Other names

Adiposogenital dystrophy has several other names:[3]

References

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Pascual JM, Prieto R (2016). “Harvey Cushing and pituitary Case Number 3 (Mary D.): the origin of this most baffling problem in neurosurgery”. Neurosurg Focus. 41 (1): E6. doi:10.3171/2016.2.FOCUS1592. PMID 27364259.
  2. Castro-Dufourny I, Carrasco R, Prieto R, Pascual JM (2017). “Jean Camus and Gustave Roussy: pioneering French researchers on the endocrine functions of the hypothalamus”. Pituitary. 20 (4): 409–421. doi:10.1007/s11102-017-0800-3. PMID 28265842.
  3. National Organisation for Rare Disorders – Froelich’s syndrome
  4. Template:WhoNamedIt – Babinski-Fröchlich syndrome
  5. J. F. Babinski. Tumeur du corps pituitaire sans acromégalie et avec arrêt de développement des organes génitaux. Revue neurologique, Paris, 1900, 8: 531-535.
  6. A. Fröhlich. Ein Fall von Tumor der Hypophysis cerebri ohne Akromegalie. Wiener klinische Rundschau, 1901, 15: 833-836; 906-908.
  7. Zárate A, Saucedo R (2007). “[The adiposogenital distrophy or Frohlich syndrome and the beginning of the concept of neuroendocrinology]”. Gac Med Mex (in Spanish; Castilian). 143 (4): 349–50. PMID 17969845.

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