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Ramon Castroviejo Briones
Spanish ophthalmic surgeon, born August 24, 1904, Logroño, La Rioja; died January 2, 1987, Madrid.
Associated eponyms:
Castroviejo's instruments
Instruments invented by Ramon Castroviejo.
Castroviejo's method
A method of keratoplasty.
Biography:
Ramon Castroviejo was a pioneering eye-surgeon who is remembered for his achievements in corneal transplantation. He worked and taught in New York for most of his career. While not being the first to successfully graft human cornea, he was an early developer of techniques for transplanting corneal tissue – from the eyes of those who had just died to damaged eyes of the living. His method was to insert a rectangular-shaped ''window'' into the cornea.
Castroviejo described his technique in 1937 to the American College of Surgeons at a meeting in Chicago. He contended that rectangular windows gave better results than the circular ones that had been tried earlier, since their edges could be fitted better to merge with and become a living part of the rest of the eye. Later in 1937 he announced a method of gilding or platinising corneas to improve vision. He described the effect as purely chemical. In 1938 he urged people throughout the United States to will their eyes to science to restore the eyesight of others. The idea resulted in the creation of present-day eye banks.
Until his retirement, Dr. Castroviejo had his home, office and a small hospital in a landmark six-story mansion at 9 East 91st Street.
Ramon Castroviejo was the son of Dr. Ramon Castroviejo Navajas, an oculist, and Anita Briones. He attended The Hermanos Maristas Primary and Secondary School and later moved to study medicine.
He graduated from the medical school of the University of Madrid in 1926 and obtained his doctorate in 1927. He worked in the Red Cross Hospital in Madrid for two years, before he got a grant to study in the United States and moved to Chicago.
He worked and taught in Chicago Hospital from 1928 to 1936, the year he obtained American citizenship. He was a research fellow in ophthalmology at the Mayo Clinic and then specialised in ophthalmology in Minnesota. From 1932 to 1952 he worked at the Eye Institute of Columbia University, and it was there that he performed his cornea transplant, in 1942. In 1953 he became clinical professor of ophthalmology at the New York University Post-Graduate Medical School, and also became chief of ophthalmology at St. Vincent's Hospital. He also served as consultant director of corneal surgery at the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary, consultant to St. Clare's Hospital, attending surgeon at Mount Sinai Hospital and Bellevue Hospital and New York University Medical Center, and clinical professor at Mount Sinai Medical School. In 1948 Castroviejo founded a private hospital which became a referral centre for the most challenging eye problems.
Dr. Castroviejo was the recipient of many honours and decorations and the author of more than 200 articles and three books. New York named him Honorary Policeman and Fireman and he was conferred the Gold Medal of New York together the biochemist Severo Ochoa (1905-1993), the 1959 recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or medicine.
Since his retirement in 1972 he lived in the Spanish capital Madrid. In 1973 he was elected Honorific Member of the Spanish Academy of Medicine. In 1981 he was named Doctor Honoris Causa by the Complutense University of Madrid. He received the same honour from several the Universities of Salamanca, Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic), Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil), San Marcos of Lima, East University of Manila, and others. He remained active as a surgeon in Madrid well into his eighties.
Besides medicine, his interests were in sports and photography. He was Spanish University Champion of Javelin in 1927. All his life he was active with his bicycle, swimming and tennis. He was also a keen photographer and possessed an impressive collection of photography machines, from old to the more sophisticated ones.
“He was second only to God. We have only this great man to thank for the gift of sight.”
Sid Sklar, recipient of one of Castroviejo’s first successful corneal transplants.
We thank William Charles Caccamise Sr, MD, New York, for information submitted.
Bibliography:
- R. Castroviejo:
Atlas of Keratactomy and Keratoplasty. W. Saunders Company, 1966.
- Obituary in The New York Times, the New York edition, section B page 4, January 5, 1987.
- Homepage og ASCRS American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery
- Jesus A. Garcia and Nohn B. Mulliken:
Ramón Castroviejo: An Ophthalmologist's Contributions to Plastic Surgery.
Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, June 2008, 121 (6): 2150-2158.
- Juan Murube:
Ramon Castroviejo Centenary: A Life Dedicated To Corneal Transplantation.
Survey of Ophthalmology, March 2005, 50 (2): 215-225.
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