Gasperini syndrome as clinical manifestation of pontine demyelination

The Gasperini syndrome is a very rare brainstem disease characterized by the typical combination of ipsilateral lesions of the cranial nerves V-VII and dissociated contralateral hemihypesthesia, whereas both contralateral and ipsilateral hypacusis was described. Since the first description in 1912, only a few cases of this crossed brainstem syndrome were published so far. Pontine infarction and bleedings were the reported causes of the syndrome. Here we report a 44-year-old man with the classical Gasperini syndrome due to pontine demyelination in multiple sclerosis. The clinical findings were correlated with changes on MRI. The present case shows that classical crossed brainstem syndromes are topological terms not invariably associated with brainstem ischemia in particular vascular areas and may contribute to the differential diagnosis of peripheral facial nerve palsy.