Ernst Wertheim

Not to be confused withHaim Ernst Wertheimer.

Ernst Wertheim
Born	(1864-02-21)21 February 1864 Graz,Austrian Empire
Died	15 February 1920(1920-02-15)(aged 55) Vienna,Austria
Nationality	Austrian
Alma mater	University of Graz
Scientific career
Fields	Gynecology

Ernst Wertheim(21 February 1864 – 15 February 1920) was anAustriangynecologistborn inGraz.

Ernst Wertheim was the son ofTheodor Wertheim,anAustrianchemistry professor at theUniversity of Graz,remembered for his chemical studies ofgarlic.He received his doctorate from the University of Graz on February 29, 1888, and subsequently became an assistant in the department of general andexperimental pathology.In 1889 he worked underOtto Kahler(1849–1893) at the seconduniversity clinicinVienna,followed by an assignment at the second Vienna women's clinic underRudolf Chrobak(1843–1910). He worked there until September 30, 1890, when he relocated toPragueas an assistant toFriedrich Schauta(1849–1919) at the university women’s clinic. When Schauta was appointed to head the University Hospital of Vienna, Wertheim followed him back to Vienna, where he obtained his habilitation forgynecologyandobstetricsin 1892.

In 1897 he became chief surgeon in the gynecological department atBettina Pavilions der Elisabeth-Klinik,and in 1910 he became director of the first Vienna women's clinic.

On November 16, 1898, Wertheim performed the first radical abdominalhysterectomyforcervical cancer.This operation involved removal of theuterus,parametrium,tissues surrounding the uppervagina,and pelviclymph nodes,but leaving theovariesintact. Afterwards,Wertheim surgerybecame a fairly common, although risky procedure for cervical cancer. He conducted important research ofgonorrheain the female genital tract, and was the first physician to demonstrate the presence ofgonococcusin theperitoneum.Also, he discovered that gonococcus grows best on a culture ofagarmixed with humanblood serum.

Ernst Wertheim in an operation 1907 (painting byJohn Quincy Adams)

In 1899, Wertheim was appointed as a professor at the University of Vienna. In 1910, he was transferred to the Second University Hospital of Vienna, where he devoted himself to developing surgical techniques for the treatment ofuterine prolapse.

Wertheim died in 1920 in Vienna. He received an honorary grave at theZentralfriedhof.

A type ofhysterectomyforceps,called the "Wertheim's vaginal clamp", is named after him.

Selected writings

• Die aszendierende Gonorrhoe beim Weibe. Bakteriologische und klinische Studien zur Biologie des Gonococcus neisser(Archiv für Gynäkologie, 1892; 42: 1-86) - Ascending gonorrhea in women.Bacteriologicaland clinical studies on the biology of "gonococcus Neisser".
• Ueber Uterus-Gonorrhöe,Verhandlungen der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Gynäkologie, 1896, 6 199-223. - treatise on gonorrhea of the uterus.
• Über Blasen-Gonorrhöe,Zeitschrift für Geburtshilfe und Gynäkologie,Stuttgart,1895, 35: 1-10. - treatise of gonorrhea of thebladder,(here, Wertheim demonstrated gonococcus in acutecystitis).
• Die Technik der vaginalen Bauchhöhlen-Operationen,(with H. Micholitsch).Leipzig,1906; translated into English as "The technique of vagino-peritoneal operations" (1907).

References

• Biography of Ernst Wertheim@Who Named It