Rudolf Ulrich Krönlein (19 February 1847 – 26 October 1910) was a

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

surgeon In medicine, a surgeon is a medical doctor who performs surgery. Even though there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon is a licensed physician and received the same medical training as physicians before spec ...

who was a native of

Stein am Rhein Stein am Rhein (abbreviated as Stein a. R.) is a historic town and a municipality in the canton of Schaffhausen in Switzerland. It is located at the outfall of Lower Lake Constance on the High Rhine river, about halfway between the town of Scha ...

Biography

Krönlein studied

medicine Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...

Zurich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

, where he was a student and assistant to surgeon

Edmund Rose Edmund Rose (October 10, 1836 – May 31, 1914) was a German surgeon who was a native of Berlin. He studied medicine in Berlin and Würzburg, and subsequently was an assistant to surgeon Robert Ferdinand Wilms in Berlin from 1860 until 1864. Fr ...

(1836–1914). In 1872, he received his medical doctorate at

with a dissertation on treatment of

open wound A wound is any disruption of or damage to living tissue, such as skin, mucous membranes, or organs. Wounds can either be the sudden result of direct trauma (mechanical, thermal, chemical), or can develop slowly over time due to underlying diseas ...

s. Later he furthered his studies in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

under

Bernhard von Langenbeck Bernhard Rudolf Konrad von Langenbeck (9 November 181029 September 1887) was a German surgeon known as the developer of Langenbeck's amputation and founder of '' Langenbeck's Archives of Surgery''. Early life and education He was born at Pading ...

(1810–1887), and in 1874 became director of the surgical clinic at

Giessen Giessen, spelled in German (), is a town in the Germany, German States of Germany, state () of Hesse, capital of both the Giessen (district), district of Giessen and the Giessen (region), administrative region of Giessen. The population is appro ...

. In 1881, he was appointed professor of surgery at the

University of Zurich The University of Zurich (UZH, ) is a public university, public research university in Zurich, Switzerland. It is the largest university in Switzerland, with its 28,000 enrolled students. It was founded in 1833 from the existing colleges of the ...

. After his death, he was succeeded by

Ferdinand Sauerbruch Ernst Ferdinand Sauerbruch (; 3 July 1875 – 2 July 1951) was a German surgeon. His major work was on the use of negative-pressure chambers for surgery. Biography Sauerbruch was born in Barmen (now a district of Wuppertal), Germany. He st ...

(1875–1951) as chair of surgery at Zurich. In 1886, Krönlein published an account of an 1884

appendectomy An appendectomy (American English) or appendicectomy (British English) is a Surgery, surgical operation in which the vermiform appendix (a portion of the intestine) is removed. Appendectomy is normally performed as an urgent or emergency procedur ...

that he performed on a 17-year-old boy. Although the patient died two days after the surgery, it was the first documented case of an appendectomy. He was also a pioneer involving

lung The lungs are the primary Organ (biology), organs of the respiratory system in many animals, including humans. In mammals and most other tetrapods, two lungs are located near the Vertebral column, backbone on either side of the heart. Their ...

resections, and his name is associated with "Krönlein's operation", which is a lateral orbitotomy of the eye. This surgery involves removal of an

orbital Orbital may refer to: Sciences Chemistry and physics * Atomic orbital * Molecular orbital * Hybrid orbital Astronomy and space flight * Orbit ** Earth orbit Medicine and physiology * Orbit (anatomy), also known as the ''orbital bone'' * Orbitof ...

tumor without excision of the eye. In 1899, he described evisceration of brain in a high velocity gunshot wound to the head.

Associated eponym

* "Krönlein's hernia": A properitoneal

inguinal hernia An inguinal hernia or groin hernia is a hernia (protrusion) of abdominal cavity contents through the inguinal canal. Symptoms, which may include pain or discomfort especially with or following coughing, exercise, or bowel movements, are absen ...

; a hernia having a double sac, one part in the

inguinal canal The inguinal canal is a passage in the anterior abdominal wall on each side of the body (one on each side of the midline), which in males, convey the spermatic cords and in females, the round ligament of the uterus. The inguinal canals are lar ...

, and the other part projecting from the

deep inguinal ring The inguinal canal is a passage in the anterior abdominal wall on each side of the body (one on each side of the midline), which in males, convey the spermatic cords and in females, the round ligament of the uterus. The inguinal canals are large ...

in the subperitoneal tissues.Mondofacto Dictionary
Kronlein's hernia * "Krönlein shot" is a high velocity gunshot wound to the head which has caused evisceration of brain.

Notes

References

* Parts of this article are based on a translation of an article from the

German Wikipedia The German Wikipedia () is the German-language edition of Wikipedia, a free and publicly editable online encyclopedia. Founded on 16 March 2001, it is the second-oldest Wikipedia edition (after the English Wikipedia). It has articles, ma ...

, whose sources include
Krönlein, Rudolf Ulrich
In:

Neue Deutsche Biographie (''NDB''; Literal translation, literally ''New German Biography'') is a Biography, biographical reference work. It is the successor to the ''Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie'' (ADB, Universal German Biography). The 27 volumes published thus far co ...

(NDB). Band 13, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1982, , S. 64 f.
History of Appendicitis Vermiformis, Its diseases and treatment
by Arthur C. McCarty, M.D. 1910 deaths 1847 births People from the canton of Schaffhausen Swiss surgeons Academic staff of the University of Zurich Academic staff of the University of Giessen {{Switzerland-med-bio-stub