Förster's Symptom

Förster's symptom

Förster's sign is a neurological symptom described by the German neurologist and psychiatrist Otfried Förster at the beginning of the 20th century.

This symptom manifests itself in the form of impaired sensitivity of the skin on the dorsum of the hand and fingers. With Förster's symptom, there is a decrease in all types of sensitivity (pain, temperature, tactile) in this area.

This symptom is a sign of damage to the thalamus and occurs in diseases such as stroke, thalamic tumor, encephalitis. It indicates a disruption in the conduction of sensory impulses from the hand to the cerebral cortex.

Identification of Förster's symptom is important for topical diagnosis of lesions of the central nervous system. It helps to localize the lesion in the projection of the thalamus.

Förster's sign is a neurological symptom described by German neurologist and psychiatrist Otfried Förster in the early 20th century.

The symptom is an impairment of the ability to reproduce active movements on command, while passive movements and reflexes are preserved. This manifests itself in the fact that the patient cannot clench a fist, raise an arm or bend a leg at the doctor’s command, but when the doctor passively flexes the limb, the movements are performed in full.

This disorder indicates damage to the frontal lobes of the brain and is one of the symptoms of progressive paralysis, brain tumors, and traumatic brain injury. The cause of this symptom is believed to be a conduction disorder in the frontopontine tract, which connects the frontal lobes and the brain stem.

Förster's symptom allows one to differentiate organic brain diseases from functional and psychogenic movement disorders. The presence of this symptom has important diagnostic significance in neurology.