Camille Biot (1850 – 1918) was a French physician.
- Most famous for describing Biot breathing.
Biography
- Born 19 December 1850 Chatenoy-le-Royal, France
- Intern at Hôtel Dieu Hospital in Lyon, France
- Practiced in Maçon in 1875
- Became member of L’Académie de Maçon
- Died in Maçon in 1918
Medical Eponyms
Biot respiration (1876) Biot named it “rhythme meningitique” as it was first described in a 16 year old patient with tuberculous meningitis.Irregular and rapid breathing pattern with rhythmical pauses lasting 10-30s, sometimes alternating between periods of apnoea and tachypnoea. Does not have the characteristic crescendo-decrescendo pattern attributed to Cheyne-Stokes breathing
Major Publications
- Biot C. Contribution a l’etude du phenomene respiratoire de Cheyne‐Stokes. Lyon médical. 1876;23:517-528
- Biot C. Étude clinique et expérimentale sur la respiration de Cheyne-Stokes. 1878
Controversies
- Similar patterns of breathing were described in Armand Trousseau’s textbook ‘Clinique Medicale de l’Hotel-Dieu de Paris’ in 1865, as well as in ‘Traite de pathologie interne’ by Sigismond Jaccoud in 1883.
- Over time, Biot’s breathing has been erroneously interchanged with the terms ‘cluster breathing’ and ‘ataxic breathing’
References
- Wijdicks EF. Biot’s breathing. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 2007;78(5):512-513. [PMC2117832]
- Guri, A., Scheier, E., Adi, M., & Chigrinsky, M. (2018). Biot’s breathing associated with acute bacterial meningitis in a child. BMJ Case Reports, 2018
eponym
the person behind the name
Emergency Medicine Trainee based in Perth, Western Australia. A wise man once told me "just work...harder"