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The bullet that hit a nerve: the history of Lucja Frey and her syndrome

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 February 2006

Nicola Jacobsen
Affiliation:
Department of Otolaryngology, University Hospital Lewisham, London, UK
Claire Hopkins
Affiliation:
Department of Otolaryngology, University Hospital Lewisham, London, UK

Abstract

Duphenix first described gustatory sweating in 1757. The underlying pathogenesis was not appreciated until 1923, when Lucja Frey, a Polish neurologist, observed the phenomenon in a Polish soldier with an infected bullet wound in the parotid gland and suggested that the auriculo-temporal nerve played a role.

Lucja Frey was born in Lwów, Poland, in 1889 and began her medical studies in Lwów before moving to Warsaw to work as a neurologist. She amassed a total of 43 publications on various neurological topics over her career. Unfortunately, during the Second World War she was enlisted into the Lwów ghetto, where she worked until her death in 1943.

We present the history of Frey's syndrome, particularly the life of Lucja Frey and the syndrome she described.

Type
Historical Article
Copyright
© 2006 JLO (1984) Limited

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