[Classical crossed pontine syndromes]

Definitions of classical crossed brainstem syndromes in the modern neurological literature are often inaccurate and inconsistent. As a result, different clinical syndromes are designated with the same eponym, other crossed syndromes are nearly completely forgotten. In this study, the original historical publications on the classical alternating pontine syndromes of Foville, Millard-Gubler, Raymond, Raymond-Cestan, Brissaud-Sicard, Gasperini, Grenet and Gelle were reviewed and critically analysed. Their anatomic basis and etiology, and the main publications about each syndrome were discussed. We conclude that the syndromes of Foville, Millard-Gubler, Raymond, Raymond-Cestan and Brissaud-Sicard are interpreted in their essential parts concurring to their historical descriptions. Crossed syndromes of Foville and Millard-Gubler are occasionally mixed up with each other. The syndromes in the last decades described as crossed syndromes of Gasperini and Grenet were, however, never described by Gasperini and Grenet. The existence of the Gelle's as "paralysie alterné de l'acoustique" postulated syndrome seems to be very questionable.