Claude's syndrome is a form of brainstem stroke syndrome characterized by the presence of an oculomotor nerve palsy

Oculomotor nerve palsy

Oculomotor nerve palsy is an eye condition resulting from damage to the third cranial nerve or a branch thereof. As the name suggests, the oculomotor nerve supplies the majority of the muscles controlling eye movements. Thus, damage to this nerve will result in the affected individual being unable...

, contralateral hemiparesis

Hemiparesis

Hemiparesis is weakness on one side of the body. It is less severe than hemiplegia - the total paralysis of the arm, leg, and trunk on one side of the body. Thus, the patient can move the impaired side of his body, but with reduced muscular strength....

, contralateral ataxia

Ataxia

Ataxia is a neurological sign and symptom that consists of gross lack of coordination of muscle movements. Ataxia is a non-specific clinical manifestation implying dysfunction of the parts of the nervous system that coordinate movement, such as the cerebellum...

, and contralateral hemiplegia

Hemiplegia

Hemiplegia /he.mə.pliː.dʒiə/ is total paralysis of the arm, leg, and trunk on the same side of the body. Hemiplegia is more severe than hemiparesis, wherein one half of the body has less marked weakness....

 of the lower face, tongue, and shoulder.

Cause and presentation

Claude's syndrome is caused by midbrain infarction

Infarction

In medicine, infarction refers to tissue death that is caused by a local lack of oxygen due to obstruction of the tissue's blood supply. The resulting lesion is referred to as an infarct.-Causes:...

 as a result of occlusion of a branch of the posterior cerebral artery

Posterior cerebral artery

-External links: - Posterior Cerebral Artery Stroke* at strokecenter.org* at State University of New York Upstate Medical University* at psyweb.com* at neuropat.dote.hu...

. This lesion is usually a unilateral infarction of the red nucleus

Red nucleus

The red nucleus is a structure in the rostral midbrain involved in motor coordination. It comprises a caudal magnocellular and a rostral parvocellular part.-Function:...

 and cerebral peduncle

Cerebral peduncle

Mainly, the three common areas that give rise to the cerebral peduncles are the cortex, the spinal cord and the cerebellum. The cerebral peduncle, by most classifications, is everything in the mesencephalon except the tectum. The region includes the midbrain tegmentum, crus cerebri and pretectum...

, affecting several structures in the midbrain including:

Structure damaged	Effect
dentatorubral fibers	contralateral ataxia
corticospinal tract Corticospinal tract The corticospinal or pyramidal tract is a collection of axons that travel between the cerebral cortex of the brain and the spinal cord....  fibers	contralateral hemiparesis
corticobulbar tract Corticobulbar tract The corticobulbar tract is a white matter pathway connecting the cerebral cortex to the brainstem. The 'bulb' is an archaic term for the medulla oblongata; in modern clinical usage, it sometimes includes the pons as well...  fibers	contralateral hemiplegia of lower facial muscles, tongue, and shoulder
oculomotor nerve Oculomotor nerve The oculomotor nerve is the 3rd of 12 paired cranial nerves. It enters the orbit via the superior orbital fissure and controls most of the eye's movements, including constriction of the pupil and maintaining an open eyelid by innervating the Levator palpebrae superiors muscle. The optic nerve is...  fibers	ipsilateral oculomotor nerve palsy Oculomotor nerve palsy Oculomotor nerve palsy is an eye condition resulting from damage to the third cranial nerve or a branch thereof. As the name suggests, the oculomotor nerve supplies the majority of the muscles controlling eye movements. Thus, damage to this nerve will result in the affected individual being unable...  with a drooping eyelid and fixed wide pupil pointed down and out; probable diplopia Diplopia Diplopia, commonly known as double vision, is the simultaneous perception of two images of a single object that may be displaced horizontally, vertically, or diagonally in relation to each other...

It is very similar to Benedikt's syndrome

Benedikt's syndrome

Benedikt syndrome, also called Benedikt's syndrome or paramedian midbrain syndrome, is a rare type of posterior circulation stroke of the brain, with a range of neurological symptoms affecting the midbrain, cerebellum and other related structures....

.

Other causes

It has been reported that posterior cerebral artery stenosis

Stenosis

A stenosis is an abnormal narrowing in a blood vessel or other tubular organ or structure.It is also sometimes called a stricture ....

 can also precipitate Claude's syndrome.

History

It carries the name of Henri Charles Jules Claude

Henri Claude

Henri Charles Jules Claude was a French psychiatrist and neurologist who was a native of Paris. He studied medicine under Charles-Joseph Bouchard , and was an assistant to Fulgence Raymond at the Salpêtrière Hospital...

, a French psychiatrist and neurologist, who described the condition in 1912.