Ferdinand Adolf Kehrer

Ferdinand Adolf Kehrer

Ferdinand Adolf Kehrer (February 16, 1837 - June 16, 1914) was a German gynecologist who was a native of Guntersblum in Rhenish Hesse. He was the father of neurologist Ferdinand Adalbert Kehrer (1883-1966).

He studied medicine at the University of Giessen under Ferdinand von Ritgen (1787-1867), at Munich with Karl von Hecker (1827–1882) and in Vienna under Karl von Braun-Fernwald (1822-1891). From 1871 to 1881 he was a professor of obstetrics (ordinarius in 1872) at Giessen, where he was also director of the Frauenklinik. In 1881 he relocated to the University of Heidelberg as chair of gynecology.

Kehrer is remembered for performing the first modern Caesarean section. This involved a transverse incision of the lower segment of the uterus, a method that minimizes bleeding, and is still widely used today.

His grave in Heidelberg

On September 25, 1881, Kehrer performed the first modern C-section in Meckesheim on a 26-year old woman. The operation was a success. Prior to Kehrer's operation, Caesarean sections were seldom performed, and when they were, the mortality rate of mothers was very high. The following year, Max Sanger (1853-1903), introduced the practice of suturing the uterus' Caesarean wound.

He died in Heidelberg.

Selected publications

• Die Geburten in Schädellagen mit rückwärts gerichtetem Hinterhaupt, (Dissertation- Giessen 1860)
• Lehrbuch der Geburtshilfe für Hebammen, (Textbook of Midwifery for Midwives), 1880 and 1891
• Ueber den Soorpilz– Pulscurve im Wochenbett, (Heidelberg 1883)
• Physiologie und Pathologie des Wochenbetts, (Physiology and Pathology of the Puerperium), in Volumes I and III of P. Müller's Handbuch der Geburtshülfe (1888-89)
• Lehrbuch der operativen Geburtshilfe, (Textbook of Operative Obstetrics), 1891

References

• This article is based on a translation of an article from the German Wikipedia.
• Pagel: Biographical Dictionary (translated biography)