Hearing Loss, Tinnitus and Pineal Germinoma: Parinaud Dorsal Midbrain Syndrome Revisited

Henri Parinaud was a French ophthalmologist and neurologist who in 1886 famously described a syndrome in patients with upward gaze paralysis, convergence nystagmus, accommodation paralysis and dilated pupils, some of which he thought were associated with a central lesion. He also described patients with hearing loss in association with this constellation of signs and symptoms, and he was “more disposed to believe that the troubles of hearing and of vision arise from the same central lesion [1]. He concluded by suggesting that “the lesion, instead of directly attacking the bulbo-pontal nuclei, is situated in a neighboring centre, which acts immediately upon them, and it appears that this centre may be the tubercula quadrigemina [1].