Carl Gussenbauer (30 October 1842 – 19 June 1903) was an Austrian surgeon.

Biography

Gussenbauer was a native of

Obervellach Obervellach ( sl, Zgornja Bela) is a market town in the district of Spittal an der Drau, in the Austrian state of Carinthia. Geography The town is situated in the valley of the Möll river, on the southern slope of the High Tauern mountain rang ...

. He received his medical doctorate in 1867 from the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich h ...

, and after graduation worked as an assistant to

Theodor Billroth Christian Albert Theodor Billroth (26 April 18296 February 1894) was a German surgeon and amateur musician. As a surgeon, he is generally regarded as the founding father of modern abdominal surgery. As a musician, he was a close friend and con ...

. Later on, he served as professor at the universities of Liège (from 1875) and

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

(from 1878). In 1894 he returned to Vienna, where he succeeded Billroth as director of the second surgical university clinic.Gussenbauer, Carl Ignatz
In: Neue Deutsche Biographie (NDB). Band 7, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1966, , S. 332 f. Gussenbauer was a pioneer of modern

pancreatic The pancreas is an organ of the digestive system and endocrine system of vertebrates. In humans, it is located in the abdomen behind the stomach and functions as a gland. The pancreas is a mixed or heterocrine gland, i.e. it has both an endoc ...

surgery. In 1882 he performed the first successful operation of a pancreatic

cyst A cyst is a closed sac, having a distinct envelope and division compared with the nearby tissue. Hence, it is a cluster of cells that have grouped together to form a sac (like the manner in which water molecules group together to form a bubble ...

via the external drainage technique that he developed. Prior to Gussenbauer's method, attempts at pancreatic surgery yielded negative results. Gussenbauer's external drainage procedure represented the first safe and effective solution for pancreatic cysts, and was widely used until the 1950s. Following Billroth's first successful

laryngectomy Laryngectomy is the removal of the larynx and separation of the airway from the mouth, nose and esophagus. In a total laryngectomy, the entire larynx is removed (including the vocal folds, hyoid bone, epiglottis, thyroid and cricoid cartilage and ...

on 31 December 1873, Gussenbauer created an external vocal

prosthesis In medicine, a prosthesis (plural: prostheses; from grc, πρόσθεσις, prósthesis, addition, application, attachment), or a prosthetic implant, is an artificial device that replaces a missing body part, which may be lost through trau ...

(artificial larynx) for the patient. It was a mechanism with a vibrating reed that was inserted into a

fistula A fistula (plural: fistulas or fistulae ; from Latin ''fistula'', "tube, pipe") in anatomy is an abnormal connection between two hollow spaces (technically, two epithelialized surfaces), such as blood vessels, intestines, or other hollow or ...

from a

tracheostomy Tracheotomy (, ), or tracheostomy, is a surgical airway management procedure which consists of making an incision (cut) on the anterior aspect (front) of the neck and opening a direct airway through an incision in the trachea (windpipe). The re ...

tube to the

pharynx The pharynx (plural: pharynges) is the part of the throat behind the mouth and nasal cavity, and above the oesophagus and trachea (the tubes going down to the stomach and the lungs). It is found in vertebrates and invertebrates, though its ...

. It was reported that the patient spoke with an intelligible voice.

Principal works

* ''Die traumatischen Verletzungen'' (1880). * ''Sephthämie, Pyohamie, und Pyo-Sephthämie'' (1882). * ''Beitrag zur Extirpation von Beckenknochengeschwülsten'' (1891).

Associated eponyms

* "Gussenbauer's suture": A figure-of-8 suture used in

bowel The gastrointestinal tract (GI tract, digestive tract, alimentary canal) is the tract or passageway of the digestive system that leads from the mouth to the anus. The GI tract contains all the major organs of the digestive system, in humans and ...

surgery. * "Gussenbauer's clamp": A bar of metal for joining the fragments in ununited fracture.

Dorland's Medical Dictionary ''Dorland's'' is the brand name of a family of medical reference works (including dictionaries, spellers and word books, and spell-check software) in various media spanning printed books, CD-ROMs, and online content. The flagship products are ''D ...

(1938). * "Gussenbauer's operation": The cutting of an esophageal stricture through an opening above the stricture.

(1938).

References

NCBI
Carl Gussenbauer: pioneer in pancreatic surgery.
Essay on Voice Prosthesis

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gussenbauer, Carl 1842 births 1903 deaths People from Spittal an der Drau District 19th-century Austrian people Austrian surgeons Austrian male writers Academic staff of the University of Vienna Academic staff of the University of Liège Academic staff of Charles University