Debunking the Myth: Should Pierre Robin be Credited for Defining the Pierre Robin Sequence?

Abstract

The Pierre Robin Sequence is a rare craniofacial malformation that invariably combines retrognathism, glossoptosis, and upper airway obstruction, with a prevalence ranging from 1 in 8000 to 1 in 14,000 newborns. Although formally described by the French physician Pierre Robin in 1923, older and even ancient as far back as the Babylonian times, descriptions have been identified. Dr Pierre Robin's perspicacity lay in putting up a treatment for the patients presenting those symptoms. That is why his successors honored his work by naming this disease after him.