Dejerine-Roussy Syndrome

Excerpt

Central post-stroke pain is a rare central neuropathic pain, also known as Dejerine Roussy syndrome, and thalamic pain syndrome occurs after infarction of the ventroposterolateral thalamus. Joseph Jules Dejerine and Gustave Roussy first described it in 1906 in their paper titled Le syndrome thalamique. The syndrome was named after them after their deaths. Thalamus is the relay center of the somatosensory pathway, but any lesion that disrupts the spinothalamic tract through its course, including subcortical, capsular, lower brain stem, and lateral medulla can stimulate the symptoms of Dejerine-Roussy syndrome. This is referred to as "pseudo-thalamic" pain. In general, the term central post-stroke pain is now preferred to describe the neuropathic pain after stroke as thalamic syndrome cannot be considered synonymous with all central pains.