1 Tuberous Sclerosis Complex, or TSC, was first documented and named by Désiré-Magloire Bourneville, a French neurologist, in 1879. The name he bestowed upon the disease, still in use today, was due to his observation of potatolike tumors he found in the brain of L. Marie, a 15 year old mentally handicapped and epileptic girl, after her death.
Numerous scientists from this point to 1905 studied the properties of the tumors and facial lesions; Hartdegen autopsied a 2-day-old infant in the same year as Bourneville; he found multiple neural malefices; the most relevant being the tubers in the brain, which he observed that the cells appeared to be large neurons. In 1901, Pellizzi pointed out the abnormal growth of the cells in the tumors. Perusini illustrated the cells with precise drawings in 1905.
Vogt created the diagnostic triad of seizures, mental retardation, and angiofibromas that would be used until computerized imaging of the brain and better understanding of the disease was available in the late 70's.
1. <http://baillement.chez.tiscali.fr/lettres/bourneville.html>
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