Abstract

Foster–Kennedy syndrome (also known as Gowers–Paton–Kennedy syndrome, Kennedy's phenomenon or Kennedy's syndrome) refers to a constellation of findings associated with tumors of the frontal lobe.

Although "Foster–Kennedy syndrome" is equated with "Kennedy syndrome", it should not be confused with Kennedy disease, which is named for William R. Kennedy.

"Pseudo-Foster–Kennedy syndrome" is defined as one-sided optic atrophy with papilledema in the other eye but with the absence of a mass.

Presentation

The syndrome is defined as the following changes:

- optic atrophy in the ipsilateral eye

- disc edema in the contralateral eye

- central scotoma (loss of vision in the middle of the visual fields) in the ipsilateral eye

- anosmia (loss of smell) ipsilaterally

This syndrome is due to optic nerve compression, olfactory nerve compression, and increased intracranial pressure (ICP) secondary to a mass (such as meningioma or plasmacytoma, usually an olfactory groove meningioma). There are other symptoms present in some cases such as nausea and vomiting, memory loss and emotional lability (i.e., frontal lobe signs).

Treatment and prognosis

The treatment, and therefore prognosis, varies depending upon the underlying tumour.

History

The syndrome was first extensively noted by Robert Foster Kennedy in 1911, a British neurologist, who spent most of his career working in the United States of America. However, the first mention of the syndrome came from a William Gowers in 1893. Schultz-Zehden described the symptoms again in 1905. A later description was written by Wilhelm Uhthoff in 1915.