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Eponyms have a long and cherished history in medicine and no less so in the newest of specialties, such as neonatology. For years, infants have received an Apgar score at birth after following a Lubchenco intrauterine growth curve. Nowadays, neonates are given a Dubowitz score and in the process their gestational age is determined.
The honor of having one's proper name become a common noun has only recently been bestowed on Drs Lilly and Victor Dubowitz of Hammersmith Hospital, London, and the Royal Postgraduate Medical School of London. Ever since the 1970 publication of their now classic article in the Journal of Pediatrics that described their method of clinically assessing gestational age in the newborn, the Dubowitz scoring system has become the worldwide standard for neonatologists.
The scoring system rests on an easily performed examination of 11 external physical criteria, such as, skin texture and color, development of breast tissue