Brown Séquard syndrome, also known as Brown-Séquard's hemiplegia and Brown-Séquard's paralysis, is a loss of sensation and motor function (paralysis and anesthesia) that is caused by the lateral hemisection (cutting) of the spinal cord. Other synonyms are hemiparaplegic syndrome, hemiplegia et hemiparaplegia spinalis, and spinal hemiparaplegia. It is named after physiologist Charles-Édouard Brown-Séquard, who first described the condition in 1849 1).
In 1849, Robert Dunn (1799-1877), an English surgeon, reported the details of a case of apoplexy of the cerebellum in a 52-year-old man, pointing to the importance of post-mortem studies of patients followed meticulously during lifetime. Dunn discussed inflammation surrounding hemorrhage as a source of cerebral degeneration, linking for the first time cerebellar stroke, neuroinflammation, and atherosclerosis 2).