Barré–Liéou syndrome

Barré–Liéou syndrome is a traditional medical diagnosis that is not utilized frequently in modern medicine. It is a complex combination of symptoms, amounting to a headache syndrome, that was originally hypothesized to be due to cervical spondylosis. Damage to the posterior cervical sympathetic chain due to the degeneration of the cervical vertebra was theorized to play a role in this syndrome by the prolapsing of disc in the mid-cervical spine. However, the medical theory as was originally postulated was found to contain inconsistencies.

Barré–Liéou syndrome is regarded by many current medical researchers as synonymous with cervicogenic headache. Thus, the original works of Barré and Liéou were foundational in identifying a crucial feature that distinguishes cervicogenic headache from other headache syndromes—the concept that the pain originates from a structural abnormality in the cervical spine.