Stravinsky syndrome: giving a voice to chronic stroke disease.

Few areas of medical practice and history generate such lively discussion as the continuing relevance and appropriateness of eponyms. Given controversies of unethical practice by physicians associated with some eponyms, misattribution of the original description and the transformation of progression in medical research from the model of the inspired solo practitioner to that of interdisciplinary team work, it is likely that few future physicians will generate a widely adopted eponym. In recent times, a different form of eponym has evolved whereby wider awareness and appreciation of relatively neglected illnesses has occurred through identification with a famous person affected by the illness. The cause, and popular understanding, of motor neuron disease in North America was considerably supported by the adoption of the title Lou Gehrig disease, after the famous baseball player. In a similar fashion, public awareness of adrenoleukodystrophy was increased by its association with Lorenzo’s oil, a potential therapy named after a patient.