Hermann Johannes Pfannenstiel
Hermann Johannes Pfannenstiel (June 28, 1862 – July 3, 1909) was a German gynecologist who was a native of Berlin.
In 1885 he received his doctorate in Berlin and afterwards worked as a hospital assistant in Posen. Later he moved to Breslau, where in 1896 he became an associate professor. In 1902 he was appointed chairman of the department of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Giessen, and five years later he became chair of the department of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Kiel. From 1891 he was secretary of the German Society for Gynaecology (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gynäkologie).
Among his better known publications were works on ovarian pathology, uterine tumors and the formation of carcinomas following ovariotomy. From 1896 he was co-editor of the Archives of Gynaecology (Archiv für Gynäkologie). In 1908 he was the first physician to give a comprehensive description of familial icterus gravis neonatorum.
Pfannenstiel is best remembered for the eponymous "Pfannenstiel's incision", which is a transverse incision used in genitourinary surgery that is still widely used today. He published his paper in 1900 when he described 51 cases.[1] His intent was to decrease the risk of an incisional hernia; results also proved to be cosmetically better.[2]
On July 3, 1909 at the age of 47, Pfannestiel died from septicemia after having injured his finger during surgery for an tubo-ovarian abscess.[2]
[edit] References
- ^ Pfannenstiel HJ (On the advantages of the symphyseal transverse fascial incision for gynecological caliotomies as well as the contribution to the surgical indications) Samml Klin Vortr (1900) 268:1735-56
- ^ a b Powell JL. Powell's Pearls: Pfannenstiel and Torpin. ACOG Clinical Review (2008) 13:4:12-13 ISSN 1085-6862
- NCBI A biography of Hermann Johannes Pfannenstiel (National Library of Medicine)
- Diagram of Pfannenstiel's incision
- Theodeboer.com Biographies in Gynaecology
