# tuberous sclerosis

> English word · Noun

## Definitions
1. A rare disease that causes benign tumors to grow in the human brain, kidneys, heart, liver, eyes, lungs and skin, caused by a mutation in the genes for the tumor growth suppressor proteins hamartin and tuberin.

## Etymology
Name composed of the Latin tuber (swelling) and the Greek skleros (hard), referring to the pathological finding of thick, firm, and pale gyri, called "tubers", in the brains of patients post mortem, first described by Désiré-Magloire Bourneville in 1880.

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/tuberous-sclerosis