tabes dorsalis

English

Etymology

From tabes + dorsalis, "tabes of the back".

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈteɪbiːz dɔːˈseɪlɪs/

Noun

tabes dorsalis (countable and uncountable, plural tabes dorsales)

1. (pathology) tabes of the back; a degeneration of the sensory neurons of the spinal cord carrying afferent information.
2. (often, more specifically) neurosyphilis in the form of such degeneration.
   • 1970, JG Ballard, The Atrocity Exhibition:

     Malcolm X: the death of terminal fibrillation, as elegant as the trembling of hands in tabes dorsalis [...].

   • 1984, Oliver Sacks, “The Disembodied Lady”, chapter 3 in The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat (Reset 2007), page 51:

     [I told her] of patients with neurosyphilis, tabes dorsalis, who had similar symptoms, but confined to the legs.

Synonyms

• locomotor ataxia

Translations

degeneration

• Japanese: 脊髄癆 (せきずいろう, sekizuirō)