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The mystery of the Doctor’s son, or the riddle of West syndrome

From the Nijmegen Institute for Cognition and Information (Dr. Eling), and Institute of Neurology and Department of Child Neurology (Dr. Renier), University of Nijmegen, the Netherlands; and Departments of Pediatrics and Anatomy/Neurobiology (J. Pomper and Dr. Baram), University of California at Irvine.

Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Paul Eling, NICI; P.O. Box 9104, 6500 HE Nijmegen, the Netherlands; e-mail: eling{at}nici.kun.nl

Although the eponym "West syndrome" is used widely for infantile spasms, the originators of the term and the time frame of its initial use are not well known. This article provides historical details about Dr. West, about his son who had infantile spasms, and about the circumstances leading to the coining of the term West syndrome.