Camille Biot

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