Wallenberg's syndrome includes a series of symptoms caused by obliteration of small arteries supplying the medulla oblongata. In the differential diagnosis it must be separated from lesions of the pons. Cause of the arterial block was first considered to be an embolus, inflammatory processes were later also incriminated. The course of the disease and autopsy findings in a 57-year-old man who had arterial hypertension for 20 years show that Wallenberg's syndrome can be a typical complication of chronic hypertension.