Arq Neuropsiquiatr. 2002 Jun;60(2-B):505-8.
The uncinated crisis of George Gershwin.
Abstract
George
Gershwin, renowned composer and pianist, well known for his popular
works, died on the 11th July 1937 due to a brain tumor. His neurological
symptoms first appeared on that same year, in February, with a simple
olfactory partial seizure, characterized by an unpleasant smell of burnt
rubber (uncinated seizure). He later had a quick clinical descend, with
severe headache that occurred in bouts, dizziness, coordination
compromise and olfactory seizures, eventually lapsing into a coma on the
9th July 1937. It was then that a gliomatosus cyst was diagnosed, which
on microscopic examination proved to be a "glioblastoma multiforme".
Despite the surgical intervention, Gershwin died soon after the
procedure without recovering his consciousness. We make a brief review
of Gershwin's neurologic disease, with emphasis on the initial symptoms,
namely the uncinated seizures.
