- A dictionary of medical eponyms

Ludwig Wilhelm Carl Rehn

Born  1849
Died  1930

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German surgeon, born April 13, 1849, Allendorf an der Werra; died May 29, 1930, Frankfurt am Main.

Biography of Ludwig Wilhelm Carl Rehn

The son of a physician, Ludwig Wilhelm Carl Rehn studied medicine at Marburg, where he received his doctorate in 1875. Following his assistant period at the Bürgerspital in Frankfurt am Main, he settled in practice in Griesheim am Main, later in Rödelheim. He then went to Frankfurt, where he practiced surgery and with the gynaecologist C. Stahl opened a small private clinic. In 1886 he took over the surgical department of the Städtisches Krankenhaus, a position that enabled him to broaden the scope of his work considerably.

In 1880 he first performed thyroidectomy for goitre, on September 9, 1896 the first successful suture of the heart. He was also first to describe bladder cancer in aniline workers, and he introduced the operation for rectal prolapse.

Bibliography

  • Über morbus Basedowii und dessen Heilung durch operation an der Schilddrüse.
  • Ein Fall von Magenruptur und dessen Heilung durch Operation.
  • Tracheostenose durch hypertroph. Thymus und Heilung durch Operation.
  • Über penetrierende Herzverletzungen und Herznaht.
  • Über Blasengeschwülste bei Farbarbeitern.
  • Über Operation am Brusttheil der Speiseröhre.
  • Ueber die Exstirpation des Kropfes bei Morbus basedowii.
    Berliner klinische Wochenschrift, 1884, 21: 163-166.
    First thyroidectomy for exophthalmic goitre. The operation reported was performed in 1880.
  • Blasengeschwülste bei Fuchsin-Arbeitern.
    Archiv für klinische Chirurgie, Berlin, 1895, 50: 588-600.
    Rehn noted the frequent appearance of papilloma and carcinoma of the bladder among men employed in the aniline dye industry.
    " . . . so ist es doch ausserordentlich auffallende, dass aus einer Anzahl von höchstens 45 Arbeitern, welche in dem betr. Fuchsinraum beschäftigt sind, drei an Blasengeschwulst erkrankten."
  • Fall von penetrirender Stichverletzung des rechten Ventrikel’s. Herznaht.
    Centralblatt für Chirurgie, Leipzig, 1896: 1048-1049.
    A short report of the first successful suture of a wound of the human heart. Main report 1897.
  • Über penetrirende Herzwunden und Herznaht.
    Archiv für klinische Chirurgie, Berlin, 1897, 55: 315-329.
    The first detailed description of a successful heart suture, following a knife stab wound in the right ventricle.
    "Meine Herren! Die Ausführbarkeit der Heznaht dürfte wohl von jetzt ab nicht mehr in Zweifel gezogen werden . . . Ich hoffe aber zuversichtlich, dass dieser Fall nicht etwa ein Curiosum bleibt, sondern dass es die Anregung giebt, auf dem Gebiete der Herz-Chirurgie weietr zu arbeiten."
    Before 1896 wounds of the heart had always been regarded as fatal. Rehn’s work marks the beginning of cardiac surgery. English translation in Callahan, Keys & Key, Classics of Cardiology, volume 3: 34-44.
  • Zur Chirurgie des Herzens und des Herzbeutels.
    Archiv für klinische Chirurgie, Berlin, 1907, 83: 723-778.
  • Biography in L. R. Grote:
    Die Medizin der Gegenwart in Selbstdarstellungen, volume 3, page 201. Leipzig, 1924.
  • Gerd Preiser:
    Ludwig Rehn und Victor Schmieden. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Frankfurter Medizinischen Fakultät.
    Archiv für Frankfurts Geschichte und Kunst, 1985, 59: 423-438.
We thank Rudolf Kleinert, Bad Reichenhall, Germany, for information submitted.

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