Roberto Caldeyro Barcia

Roberto Caldeyro Barcia was born in Montevideo, Uruguay on September 26 1921. He was descendant to Spaniards and Italians, researcher and teacher of teachers. He was creator and Director of the Latin American Center of Perinatology, and afterwards of the PEDECIBA (program for development of basic sciences in Uruguay). He was pioneer in the world with Dr. Hermogenes Alvarez in the development of Perinatal Medicine.

Uruguay has played a key role in the birth of Perinatology, thanks mainly to the major contributions in the field started by Professors Roberto Caldeyro-Barcia M.D. and Hermogenes Alvarez M.D.

It was Prof. Caldeyro-Barcia and Prof. Hermogenes Alvarez who established a tracing system in 1947 to monitor intrauterine amniotic pressure during pregnancy and labour , which made it possible to analyze and define uterine contractility during pregnancy and childbirth, measuring the intensity and frequency of contractions and the uterine tone. This research led to the worldwide use of “Montevideo Units” to quantify uterine activity.

Caldeyro-Barcia and Hermogenes Alvarez in 1955 also developed a method to measure the effect of the uterine contractions on the fetal heart rate, which would later become the basis of fetal monitoring, commonly used globally to monitor the fetus's response to contractions during labour and to prevent any neurological damage resulting from a deprivation of oxygen.

In 1970, the Pan American Health Organization created the first Latin American Center of Perinatology (CLAP) in Montevideo, appointing Prof. Caldeyro-Barcia as its director. This became a training and reference center for professionals in Latin America and elsewhere, since it provided training to doctors from Switzerland, the United States, Germany, Japan, Sweden, Spain, as well as a vast number of Latin Americans, many of whom are today faculty members in their countries of origin.

The World Association of Perinatal Medicine was created in Tokyo in 1991, during the first world congress of this specialty, having Drs. Erich Saling (from Germany), Shouichi Sakamoto (from Japan) and Roberto Caldeyro-Barcia (from Uruguay)as its founders and main supporters.

Roberto Caldeyro Barcia graduated as Medical Doctor from the University of Uruguay School of Medicine on December 1947. He specialized in obstetrical physiology under the influence of outstanding researchers like the Belgian Corneille Heymans and the Argentine Bernardo Houssay (Nobel Prizes of Physiology and Medicine respectively).

At the School of Medicine of Montevideo, he was instructor of Physiology (1942-1947), Assistant Professor of Physiology (1948), Associate Professor of Physiology(1950), Head of the Department of Obstetrical Physiology (1959), and Professor and Chairman of Physiology(until 1965).

Among other achievements, Caldeyro Barcia and Hermogenes Alvarez obtained the first recordings of intrauterine amniotic pressure in 1947. In this same year, Roberto obtained his title of Medical Doctor being only 26 years old.

In 1950 he recorded for the first time intramiometrial pressure in different parts of the uterus during labour, defining the pattern of normal uterine contractility having a "triple descendant gradient". In 1958 he published an original method to diagnose fetal asphyxia during labor, based on the continuous recording of the fetal heart rate. He defined normal and abnormal responses of the fetus through the continuous monitoring of fetal heart rate. He defined the typical abnormal response of the fetal heart rate during labour as "type II DIP". This was later taken by other researchers and renamed as late deceleration. This method continues to be used worldwide to asses fetal status during labour.

He received over 300 awards: Gold Medal of Instituto Dexeus (Barcelona), Abraham Horowitz Prize from the Pan American Health and Education Foundation (1984), among others. He was the only Uruguayan that was nominated for a Nobel Prize.

He gave over 200 lectures in the most important universities in America (North, Central and South) Eurpe and Asia. He received the title of Doctor Honoris Causa from 16 universities worldwide. He was designated as Emeritus Profesor by the University of Uruguay School of Medicine in 1987 and full member of the Board of The Uruguayn National Academy of Medicine.

He published two books, more than 300 papers of original research, 15 chapters for monographic books, and 5 chapters for internationally recognized text books.

He was full member of the following societies: Sociedad de Biologia en Montevideo (1944), Sociedad Uruguaya de Ginecotocologia (1947), Asociacion Uruguaya para el Progreso de la Ciencia (1950), Asociacion Latinoamericana de Ciencias Fisiologicas (1956), Society for Gynecologic Investigation (USA) (1962) and the Asociacion Latinoamericana para Investigaciones en Reproduccion Humana (1954).

He was also designated as honorary member of the following scientific societies and conferences: Academias de Medicina de San Pablo (1954), Sociedad Cubana de Obstetricia y Ginecologia (1954), Federacao Brasileira de Sociedades de obstetricia e Ginecologia (1955), III Congreso Latinoamericano de Obstetricia y Ginecologia, III Congreso Mexicano de Obstetricia y Ginecologia (1958), Sociedad de Obstetricia y Ginecologia de Venezuela (1958), Sociedad Chilena de Obstetricia y Ginecologia (1959), Colegio Medico de Cirujanos en Costa Rica (1959), Sociedad de Obstetricia y Ginecologia de Costa Rica (1959), Sociedad de Obstetricia y Ginecologia de El Salvador (1959), Sociedad de Obstetricia y Ginecologia de Panama (1959), Sociedad de Obstetricia y Ginecologia de Buenos Aires (1959), Sociedad Argentina de Biologia (1962), Asociacion Medica Argentina (1962), IV Congreso Mexicano de Obstetricia y Ginecologia (1963), Asociación Mexicana de Ginecologia y Obstetricia (1963), Sociedad de Obstetricia y Ginecologia de Parana (1963), Sociedad Argentina de Farmacologia (1963), Sociedad de Obstetricia y Ginecologia del estado de Baja California (1965), Sociedad Peruana de Obstetricia y Ginecologia (1965), Academia Nacional de Medicina de Mexico (1966), Sociedad Argentina de Investigacion Clinica (1966), Sociedad de Obstetricia y Ginecologia de Valparaiso y Aconcagua (Chile, 1967).

His classmate at the School of Medicine of Montevideo, the renowned Uruguayan researcher Alejandro Zaffaroni, defined Roberto as "the highest exponent of Uruguayan medicine of the XX th century"

Caldeyro was able to combine, with the gift of a true master, his provervial frankness and clarity in expressing his opinions, with a unique capacity in stimulating his students and his whole staff.

References

Quo Vadis: Perinatal Medicine in Latin AmericaBelizán and Queenan Obstet Gynecol.2002; 100: 383-384

Occasional Tribute: Reaching the fetal environment: A tribute to Dr Hermógenes Alvarez. Enrique C. Gadow.Prenatal Diagnosis Volume 18, Issue 8 , Pages 870 – 872 Published Online: 21 Dec 1998

Elizabeth Noble (1997): A Tribute to Robert Caldeyro-Barcia, MD Birth 24 (4), 212–213. doi:10.1111/j.1523-536X.1997.tb00592.x

Intrapartum Electronic Fetal Heart Rate Monitoring and the Prevention of Perinatal Brain Injury. Graham et al. Obstet Gynecol.2006; 108: 656-666.

C. L. BlanderIntrapartum Electronic Fetal Heart Rate Monitoring and the Prevention of Perinatal Brain InjuryObstet. Gynecol., December 1, 2006; 108(6): 1554 - 1554.

http://www.wapm.info/histo.html

Editorial Joachim W. Dudenhausen. J. Perinat. Med. 34 (2006) 435 • Copyright _ by Walter de Gruyter • Berlin • New York. DOI 10.1515/JPM.2006.087http://www.atypon-link.com/WDG/doi/pdf/10.1515/JPM.2006.087?cookieSet=1

Roberto Caldeyro Barcia el mandato de una vocación por Alcides Beretta Curi. Nº de páginas: 280 / Editado en: 2006 / Tamaño: 16X23 / Peso: 460 grs./ Editado por: Trilce, Montevideo, Uruguay / ISBN 9974324343