After admitting the patient, House's team mentions Phineas Gage, a foreman in the mid-1800s whose personality changed following an on-the-job accident in which a three-foot iron bar went through his brain. (He lived another 12 years of relatively normal life.)
"Cyrano de Berkowitz" is a reference to Cyrano de Bergerac, a real person whose life has now become largely fictionalized. Although an excellent swordsman, he was better known for his very large nose. House modifies the name to sound Jewish when mocking Taub.
Jay Karnes and Susan Egan (the patient and his wife) both guest starred in separate episodes of NUMB3RS as the parents of kidnapped children held for ransom, Egan in season one's Prime Suspect and Karnes in season two's Bettor or Worse.