Paul Anton Cibis

Paul Anton Cibis, M.D. (26 June 1911 – 30 April 1965) was a clinical ophthalmologist, surgeon and pioneer of modern vitreoretinal surgery. As part of Operation Paperclip Cibis came to the United States and performed research for the U.S. Air Force and studied the effects of atomic weapons testing on the eye. He was an internationally recognized expert in retinal detachment surgery and pioneered the use of liquid silicon for this procedure.

Life and times

Cibis was born in 1911 at Rybnik, Silesia, Germany. In 1921, this became part of Poland. Prior to entry into university, he studied in Rybnik and Racibórz Silesia. Cibis then studied medicine at the University of Breslau and at Munich. He attended University of Berlin for medical school. He interned at Berlin and completed residency at Heidelberg. At Heidelberg he met his future wife Lisa, a medical student that became an ophthalmologist. The couple married in 1939. Lisa held membership in the German Ophthalmological Society. Later, they had a daughter, Andrea and son, Gerhart and both children pursued careers in ophthalmology after studying medicine in the United States at Washington University, St. Louis. From 1940 to 1944, he held the position of research and clinical assistant in the University Eye Clinic at Heidelberg. Upon appointment to Heidelberg, and at the outbreak of WWII, Cibis was quickly drafted into the German Army (Wehrmacht). He served on the Russian front for two years, as an ophthalmologist and medical administrator. From 1944 to 1949, Cibis was Oberarzt (senior physician) and Docent for Ophthalmology at Heidelberg.[1][2][3] During the years 1949 to 1955, he was a research ophthalmologist for the United States Air Force, School of Aviation Medicine at Randolph Field in Texas. From 1 June 1955 to 1 June 1956, Cibis was an instructor in ophthalmology at Washington University in Saint Louis, Missouri. From 1956 to 1965, he held the position of associate professor of ophthalmology at Washington University in Saint Louis, Missouri. In 1965, he died of a heart attack at St. Louis, Missouri shortly after his return from England where he had attended the Annual Meeting of the Ophthalmological Society of the United Kingdom.[4]

Education

His initial education was in Rybnik and then in Racibórz Silesia. In 1931, Cibis began studies in medicine at the University of Breslau and continued for two additional years in Munich. Upon completion, he attended medical school at the University of Berlin and graduated on 4 December 1936. His internship was at Berlin in 1937. In 1938, he went to Heidelberg for residency at the University Eye Clinic. In 1940, Cibis completed residency in ophthalmology at the University of Heidelberg Eye Clinic. Until 1949, he was chief assistant in ophthalmology at the Eye Clinic.[4]

School of Aviation Medicine

In June 1949, he came to the United States as a research ophthalmologist at the United States Air Force School of Aviation Medicine at Randolph Air Force Base in Texas under Operation Paperclip. The work involved the visual and physiological problems of aviation, space travel and atomic weapons testing, including flashblindness.[4] Cibis worked with Werner K. Noell to study the ocular effects from high intensity x-radiation.[5] He paired with David V.L. Brown to analyze the retinal changes as a result of ionizing radiation.[6] The team of Cibis, Brown and John E. Pickering utilized Rhesus monkeys to study the effect of gamma radiation on the retina.[7] The joint efforts from Byrnes, Brown, Rose and Cibis studied retinal burns, chorioretinal burns and flashblindness that resulted from atomic weapons tests. The group was interested in the biological effects of atomic weapons. Much of this work was performed as part of Operation Redwing.[8][9][10][11][12] Cibis worked with the Air Force until 1955. In 1955, Dr. Bernard Becker offered Cibis a position in the Department of Ophthalmology at Washington University, St. Louis.[13]

Washington University in St. Louis

In 1955, he was recruited by Dr. Bernard Becker to become a member of the Department of Ophthalmology at Washington University, St. Louis. From 1 June 1955 to 1 June 1956, Cibis was an instructor in ophthalmology at Washington University in Saint Louis, Missouri. From 1956 until 1965, he was associate professor of ophthalmology at Washington University. Cibis became an international authority for the treatment of disease of the vitreous and retina. The surgical techniques he pioneered and developed, involved directly operating on the vitreous to repair retinal detachments. The techniques were innovative and ground breaking.[13] In St. Louis, Cibis teamed with Bernard Becker, Michel Ter-Pogossian, M.A. Constant and M.R. Smith to continue work on the ocular effects from x-radiation.[14]

Cibis was an internationally recognized expert in retinal detachment surgery. He pioneered this procedure. The most significant contribution to ophthalmologic surgery being: “the demonstration of the technique of injecting liquid silicon into the vitreous chamber to replace lost or shrunken vitreous thus forcing the retina back into apposition with the choroid.”[4]

Professional affiliations

Cibis was an active member of several professional societies. These include the German Ophthalmological Society, the Optical Society of America, the Association for Research in Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology, the American Medical Association, the Jules Gonin Club, the German Medical Society of Chicago, the Pan-American Ophthalmological Association, and the Pan-Pacific Surgical Association. Shortly after his death, the American Ophthalmological Society elected Cibis as a member.[1][2][3]

Awards and honors

In 1949, Docent Dr. Paul Cibis was granted the Albrecht von Graefe Award by the German Ophthalmological Society of Heidelberg for the years 1940 to 1948 inclusive.[15] He singly authored numerous papers, was coauthor on numerous other publications, and produced one textbook titled, Vitreoretinal pathology and surgery in retinal detachment.[16]

The reference work on ophthamology by Dr. Anand Shroff, An Eye on Numbers: A Ready Reckoner in Ophthalmology, lists in the contributions section on vitreoretinal surgery, in 1962 Cibis is credited with utilizing silicon oil used for the repair of retinal detachments. In 1965, he was recognized as being the first to describe intraocular cryotherapy, in addition to being the first to cut vitreous adhesions and traction bands.[17]

In 2002, the Paul A. Cibis Distinguished Professorship of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences was established by an anonymous donor at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri.[13]

Book

Select publications

Publications

References

  1. 1 2 Post, M. Hayward. (1965). Paul Anton Cibis, M.D. Transactions of the American Ophthalmological Society. (63): 8.
  2. 1 2 Okun, E. (1965). Paul Anton Cibis (1911–1965). American journal of ophthalmology. 60(3): 546-548.
  3. 1 2 Feibel, R. M., & Blodi, C. F. (2013). Paul A. Cibis, MD: A Pioneer of Modern Vitreoretinal Surgery. JAMA ophthalmology. 131(8): 1077-1082.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Editor. (November 1965). Paul Anton Cibis. British Journal of Ophthalmology. 49(11): 608–609.
  5. ↑ Cibis, Paul A., Noell, Werner K. and Eichel, Bertram. (1955). "Ocular effects produced by high-intensity x-radiation." AMA archives of ophthalmology. 53(5): 651-663.
  6. ↑ Cibis, P. A., & Brown, David V.L. (1955). Retinal changes following ionizing radiation. American journal of ophthalmology. 40(5): 84-88.
  7. ↑ Brown, D. V., Cibis, P. A., & Pickering, J. E. (1955). Radiation Studies on the Monkey Eye: I. Effects of Gamma Radiation on the Retina. AMA archives of ophthalmology. 54(2): 249-256.
  8. ↑ Byrnes, Victor Allen, Brown, D. V., Rose, H. W., & Cibis, P. A. (1955). Retinal burns—New hazard of the atomic bomb. Journal of the American Medical Association. 157(1): 21-22.
  9. ↑ Byrnes, Victor A., Brown, D. V. L., Rose, H. W., & Cibis, P. A. (1955). OCULAR EFFECTS OF THERMAL RADIATION FROM ATOMIC DETONATION-FLASHBLINDNESS AND CHORIORETINAL BURNS (No. WT-745). SCHOOL OF AVIATION MEDICINE RANDOLPH AFB TX.
  10. ↑ Byrnes, V. A., Brown, D. V. L., Rose, H., & Cibis, P. A. (1956). Retinal Burns-New Hazard of the Atomic Bomb. Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. 17(6): 492.
  11. ↑ Rose, H. W., BROWN, D. V., Byrnes, V. A., & CIBIS, P. A. (1956). Human chorioretinal burns from atomic fireballs. AMA archives of ophthalmology. 55(2): 205-210.
  12. ↑ Byrnes, V. A., Brown, D. V. L., Rose, H. W., & CIBIS, P. A. (1956). Chorioretinal lesions due to thermal radiation from the atomic bomb. AMA archives of ophthalmology. 55(6): 909-914.
  13. 1 2 3 Feibel, Robert M. (10 April 2014). Paul A. Cibis, MD: A St. Louis Pioneer of Modern Vitreoretinal Surgery. Historia Medica Lecture on Paul A. Cibis, MD. Becker Medical Library. Washington University School of Medicine. St. Louis, Missouri.
  14. ↑ Becker, Bernard, Constant, M. A., Cibis, P. A., Ter-Pogossian, Michel, & Smith, M. R. (1956). The effect of moderate doses of X-ray irradiation on ocular tissue. American journal of ophthalmology. 42(4): 51-58.
  15. ↑ Editor. (2015). 1949 Graefe Award. Deutsche Ophthalmologische Gesellschaft. D.O.G. Munich, Germany.
  16. ↑ Cibis, P. A. (1965). Vitreoretinal pathology and surgery in retinal detachment. St. Louis: CV Mosby.
  17. ↑ Shroff, Anand. (2011). An Eye on Numbers: A Ready Reckoner in Ophthalmology. PostScript Media Pvt.

External links

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