Aurel Babeș
Aurel Babeș | |
|---|---|
| Born | December 11, 1886 |
| Died | December 31, 1961 (aged 75) |
| Resting place | Șerban Vodă Cemetery, Bucharest |
| Nationality | Romanian |
| Alma mater | Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy |
| Known for | Vaginal smear as screening test for cervical cancer |
| Spouse | Lucia Șerbănescu |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Medicine |
| Institutions | Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy |
| Thesis | Cerebrospinal fluid: Clinical and experimental study (1915) |
Aurel A. Babeș (11 December 1886 – 7 August 1962) was a Romanian scientist and one of the discoverers of the vaginal smear as screening test for cervical cancer.
Biography
Aurel Babeș was born in 1886, in Bucharest. His father, Aurel V. Babeș (1852–1925), was the son of Vincențiu Babeș; he studied under Robert Bunsen at Heidelberg University and was a chemistry professor at the Faculty of Veterinary Science of the University of Bucharest.[1][2] His paternal uncle was Victor Babeș, co-author (with Victor André Cornil) of the first treaty of bacteriology.[3]
After attending Gheorghe Lazăr High School, Babeș enrolled in 1905 at the Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy, graduating in in 1911. He received his Doctorate magna cum laude in 1915 with thesis Cerebrospinal fluid. Clinical and experimental study, which was awarded the Hillel Award of the Faculty of Medicine and the Lazăr Award of the Romanian Academy of Sciences. After specializing in pathology, he was appointed in 1921 assistant lecturer in the gynecological clinic at Colțea Hospital headed by Constantin Daniel (1876–1973). Daniel and Babeș conducted the first studies that demonstrated that cervical cancer could be diagnosed via smears, which led some to refer to Colțea Hospital as the "birthplace of cervical smear".[1][2]
In 1929 Babeș became Assistant Professor at the University of Medicine and Pharmacy, a position he held until 1941. Subsequently he worked at the Center for Diagnosis and Care of Cancer until 1948, and then as a pathologist and researcher at the Institute of Endocrinology.[1]
Babeș married fellow gynecologist Lucia Șerbănescu in 1930. They adopted a daughter, who settled in Galați and became an acclaimed opera singer. Babeș was 75 years old when he died in Bucharest in 1961. He is buried at the Șerban Vodă Cemetery.[1]
Scientific discoveries
It is said that Babeș was very aware of the great international reputation that Georgios Papanikolaou had gained in contrast to his own. In a spirit of recognition and fairness, Romania refers to cervical testing as "Méthode Babeș–Papanicolaou" in honor of Babeș.
Although Papanikolaou is generally credited for the invention of the cervical cancer screening test by cervical cytology, O'Dowd and Philipp[4] believe that Babeș was the true pioneer in the cytologic diagnosis of cervical cancer. He discovered that if a platinum loop was used to collect cells from a woman's cervix, and the cells were then dried on a slide and stained, it could be determined if cancer cells were present. This was the first screening test to diagnose cervical and uterine cancer. Babeș presented his findings to the Romanian Society of Gynaecology in Bucharest on 23 January 1927. His method of cancer diagnosis was published in a French medical journal, Presse Médicale, on 11 April 1928, but it is unlikely that Papanicolaou was aware of it. Moreover, the two techniques are different in their design according to Diamantis et al.[5] Even though Babeș preceded Papanicolaou, the design of the Pap test belongs to Papanicolaou. This breakthrough in cervical cancer diagnosis has saved the lives of over 6 million women.[6]
References
- ^ a b c d Paksoy, Nadir (2017), van den Tweel, Jan G. (ed.), "Babeș, Aurel A. (1886–1961)" (PDF), Pioneers in Pathology, Cham: Springer International Publishing, pp. 47–51, doi:10.1007/978-3-319-41995-4_4075, ISBN 978-3-319-41994-7, retrieved 2020-07-10
- ^ a b Tasca,, Luminița; Östör, Andrew G.; Babeș, Vincențiu (2002). "Aurel Babeș". International Journal of Gynecological Pathology. 21 (2): 198–202.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) - ^ Nita, Ramona (22 May 2019). "World's first treatise of bacteriology: Victor Babeș and Victor André Cornil". World Record Academy. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
- ^ O'Dowd MJ, Philipp EE. The History of Obstetrics & Gynaecology. London: Parthenon Publishing Group; 1994: 547
- ^ Diamantis A, Magiorkinis E, Androutsos G., What's in a name? Evidence that Papanicolaou, not Babeș, deserves credit for the Pap test., Diagn Cytopathol. 2010 Jul;38(7):473-6. doi:10.1002/dc.21226
- ^ "Aurel Babeș –Started the Path towards Pap Smears Which Revolutionized Cervical Cancer Detection". scienceheroes.com. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
External links
- [1] whonamedit.com article about the discovery of the cytologic screening of cervical cancer (accessed September 25, 2006)
- [2] Medscape article on cervical cancer screening (accessed April 21, 2006)
- [3] Link to article at Scienceheroes.com
- What's in a name? Evidence that Papanicolaou, not Babeș, deserves credit for the Pap test. PMID 19813255
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