|
 |
|
|||||||
|
|||||||||
Correspondence: When an article is eligible for submission of Correspondence, a link to the response form is available within the full-text article. You must be a current subscriber who has activated the online portion of your subscription in order to send a Correspondence. Any reader can read published Correspondence.
Correspondence to:
|
|
Correspondence:Correspondence published:
-
![[Read Correspondence]](/icons/misc/sectionDOWN.gif)
Reply to Albin
- Robert B. Daroff, M.D., Robert C. Griggs, MD - Editor-in-Chief, Neurology (11 May 2005)
-
Report from the Neurology Scientific Integrity Advisor: Year 1
- Roger L. Albin (11 May 2005)
|
|
|||
|
Robert B. Daroff, M.D., Scientific Integrity Advisor, Neurology CASE School of Medicine, 10900 Euclid Ave. - T101, Cleveland, OH 44106-4994, Robert C. Griggs, MD - Editor-in-Chief, Neurology
Send Correspondence to journal:
Robert.Daroff{at}case.edu Robert B. Daroff, M.D., et al.
|
I (RBD) did not state that Hallervorden-Spatz was a universally accepted eponym, but since PubMed listed 146 publications citing Hallervorden between 1994 and March 2004, it certainly has not been universally expunged. The Neurology Editorial Board in 1993 decided not to eliminate the eponym and we thought it appropriate for the current Editorial Board to reconsider the issue, and it was discussed at the April 12, 2005 Neurology Editorial Board meeting in Miami. For a variety of reasons, the Board decided to continue permitting the Hallervorden-Spatz eponym. Robert B. Daroff, MD, Scientific Integrity Advisor Robert C. Griggs, MD, Editor-in-Chief |
|||
|
|
|||
|
Roger L. Albin, Ann Arbor VAMC GRECC; Dept. of Neurology, University of Michigan 4412D Kresge III, 200 Zina Pitcher Place, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109-0585
Send Correspondence to journal:
ralbin{at}umich.edu Roger L. Albin
|
Dr. Daroff’s comments to the contrary, Hallervorden-Spatz syndrome (HSS) is no longer a universally accepted eponym. Hayflick et al [1], the discovers of the pantothenate kinase 2 (PANK2) mutations responsible for most cases of this syndrome, recommend that cases of this syndrome caused by PANK2 mutations be termed Pantothenate Kinase Associated Neurodegeneration (PKAN). Phenotypically similar cases not associated with PANK2 mutations should be termed Neurodegeneration with Brain Iron Accumulation (NBIA). This recommendation is followed in the authoritative Online Mendelian Inheritence in Man (OMIM) which no longer has a separate heading for HSS but instead lists it under the more accurate descriptor PKAN. The excellent GeneReviews section of the Gene Tests website (www.genetests.org) lists PKAN and Neuronal Brain Iron Accumulation (NBIA), and has no separate listing for HSS. In these reviews, it is pointed out that PKAN and NBIA were formerly referred to as HSS, clearly discouraging the use of the HSS eponym. The adoption of this alternative, and more accurate nomenclature, is driven primarily by Michael Shevell’s writings on Hallervorden’s complicity in the Nazi euthanasia program. [2,3] Shevell argues strongly that eponyms exist as honorifics and that use of the HSS eponym is honoring an accessory to mass murder. Given the existence of more accurate and accepted nomenclature, Neurology should discourage the use of the HSS eponym. References 1. Hayflick SJ, Westaway SK, Levinson B, et al. Clinical, genetic, and radiologic delineation of Hallervorden-Spatz syndrome. N Engl J Med 2003;348:33-40. 2. Shevell M. Racial hygiene, active euthanasia, and Julius Hallervorden. Neurology 1992;42:2214-2219. 3. Shevell M. Hallervorden and history. N Engl J Med 2003;348:3-4. |
|||
| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH |