The Gulf War syndrome represents neurological and neuropsychological disorders 
in veterans of the Persian Gulf war. Until today, the various symptoms observed 
could not be attributed to any defined disease. As a possible cause, exposure to 
neurotoxic agents such as the organophosphates used during the war has been 
suggested by many authors. We report on a 29-year-old man who suffered from 
dysmnesia, disturbance of orientation, cognitive impairment, and double vision. 
His history revealed several front-line operations in 1990 and 1991 during the 
Gulf War. Physical examinations showed a complex eye-movement disturbance and a 
horizontal nystagmus, which was neuro-ophthalmologically confirmed. The early 
auditory potentials referred to a brainstem dysfunction and the cognitive 
disturbances correlated to changes in the late-appearing component of 
event-related potentials (P 300). Brain imaging with CCT, MRI, SPECT, PET, and 
EEG and CSF showed no pathologies. Neuropsychological tests disclosed severe 
cognitive impairment especially concerning memory. Three-month follow-up studies 
in a department of psychosomatic medicine excluded a dissociative disorder as a 
feature of a post-traumatic stress or a conversion disorder. This is the first 
case of Gulf War syndrome in Germany. We focus on an unfamiliar complication 
after the war. The recent literature is reviewed.