Gerstmann's Syndrome

Abstract

In a series of papers published between 1924 and 1930 Josef Gerstmann described a syndrome comprising finger agnosia, right-left confusion, agraphia and acalculia which was due, he thought, to a left parieto-occipital lesion. In the ensuing years Gerstmann's description was accepted by a number of clinicians, some of whom reported, in addition, a developmental form of the syndrome. Others, on the contrary, disputed the clinical relevance and the localizing value of the syndrome. The debate has brought to light a number of subtle difference which had passed unnoticed prior to Gerstmann's publications.