Eric Bywaters
Eric George Lapthorne BywatersCBEFRCP(1 June 1910 – 2 April 2003) was a British physician.[1]
Early years[edit]
Bywaters studied at theMiddlesex Hospital Medical School,graduating in 1933 with a gold medal and honours in pathology, and then worked as an assistant to pathologistLionel Whitby.
Career[edit]
In 1937 he was invited byrheumatologistWalter Bauerto work atMassachusetts General Hospitaland perform research onlupus erythematosus.When war broke out in 1939, Bywaters returned to Britain, but was not taken into the army because of kidney problems and instead took overRheumatologyat theBritish Postgraduate Medical SchoolatHammersmith Hospital.During thebombing of London,he clarified that so-calledcrush syndromewasrenal failurein wounded bomb victims who had been freed fromcrushing injuries.Bywater traced the condition to the release ofmyoglobinfrom injured muscle tissue entering thebloodstream.He found a method of treatment in the form of intravenous or oral administration ofalkalinefluids.[2]
After the war, he built up rheumatology as an independent medical discipline. In 1947, he became director of a small hospital department for rheumatism sufferers at theCanadian Red Cross Memorial Hospitalin the village ofTaplow,nearMaidenheadinBerkshire.Immediately after the discovery of the therapeutic effect ofcortisoneagainst rheumatic fever byPhilip Showalter HenchandEdward Calvin Kendallhe undertook clinical tests that confirmed this (participation in 1948). The approach of treatingrheumatic heart diseaseusing cortisone, was eventually made irrelevant by the availability of antibiotic treatment,[citation needed]which nearly eliminated the disease in the UK and other developed countries. Bywaters used his expertise as a pathologist for accurate characterization of rheumatic diseases and to develop new methods of treatment ofjuvenile chronic arthritisin children and adolescents.
Recognition[edit]
In 1963 he received theCanada Gairdner International Awardfor his work studying rheumatoid arthritis, and he was made aCommander of the Order of the British Empirein 1975.[3]
Personal life[edit]
His hobbies were gardening and painting.
He was born on 1 June 1910 inLondonand died on 2 April 2003 inBeaconsfield,England
References[edit]
- ^Eric Bywaters 1910–2003a Oxford Academic.
- ^Peiris, Dilini (April 2017). "A historical perspective on crush syndrome: the clinical application of its pathogenesis, established by the study of wartime crush injuries".Journal of Clinical Pathology.70(4): 277–281.doi:10.1136/jclinpath-2016-203984.ISSN1472-4146.PMID27920043.S2CID20068249.
- ^"From bedside to bench and beyond: the legacy of Dr. Eric G.L. Bywaters - Hektoen International".hekint.org.Retrieved10 March2020.
External links[edit]
- ObituaryinRheumatology,Vol 42, 2003
- Obituaryin theBritish Medical Journal
- ObituaryinJoint Bone Spine
- Obituaryin theRoll of the Royal College of Physicians of London
- Transcript of an interviewwith Bywaters
- Eric Bywaterson theHistory of Modern Biomedicine Research Groupwebsite
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