Medical Dictionary
Main Entry:
Rom·berg's sign Variant:
or Rom·berg sign /'räm-"b&rg(z)-/ Function:
noun : a diagnostic sign of tabesdorsalis and other diseases of the nervous system consisting of a swaying of the body when the feet are placed close together and the eyes are closed
Romáberg /'rom-berk,/ Moritz Heinrich (1795–1873), German pathologist. A professor of medicine at Berlin, Romberg wrote the first formal treatise on diseases of the nervous system. Published 1840 to1846, it was the first attempt to organize scattered data and to systematize methods of treatment. The manual was notable for emphasizing the significance of physiological principles in interpretingneurological function and for its precise clinical illustrations. The treatise contains descriptions of the pathognomonic symptom of tabes dorsalis, now known as Romberg's sign, and of neuralgiaaffecting the eye, brow, or temple. Romberg is also remembered for his classic description of achondroplasia in 1817.
