Werner Porstmann

Werner Porstmann (born February 22, 1921 in Geyersdorf , Erzgebirge , † April 5, 1982 in East Berlin ) was a German radiologist. He worked at the Charité of the Humboldt University in Berlin and was one of the pioneers in interventional radiology and cardiology.

Live and act

Porstmann studied medicine in Leipzig , Marburg and Greifswald (1939–1946). After his first medical work in the hospital in Annaberg-Buchholz (1946–1949), he first turned to internal medicine (M. Bürger) at the Leipzig University Hospital and then switched to radiology specialist training in radiology (F. Gietzel) at the Charité in 1953. After his radiological specialist certification and habilitation (1961), he built up a special department for cardiovascular diagnostics as a professor there, which became independent in 1964. In 1981 he became director of the newly created Institute for Cardiovascular Diagnostics at the Charité.

Werner Porstmann started left heart catheterization in 1957 and performed the first coronary angiography in 1959, followed by the first vertebral angiography. Since 1964 he has devoted himself to the diagnosis of congenital heart diseases in children. The development of percutaneous treatment of the open ductus arteriosus Botalli in 1967 is one of his achievements.

Inspired by the technique of "vascular bougienage" ("yolk") by Charles Dotter (1964), he succeeded in 1973 with the first peripheral balloon angioplasty with the help of a "corset balloon"; a technique which Andreas Grüntzig shortly afterwards gave a new and definitive basis for the treatment of vascular stenoses and occlusions with a new form and pressure-stable balloon (1974). At the same time Eberhard Zeitler was a pioneer of the yolk technology in the Federal Republic of Germany. W. Porstmann is also ascribed the first embolization in pulmonary AV fistulas.

In 1967 Porstmann founded the working group for cardiovascular X-ray diagnostics in the Society for Medical Radiology of the former GDR. He was a member of the editorial committee of the GDR journal Medizintechnik and editor of the journal Radiologica diagnostica of the Society for Medical Radiology of the GDR, and also co-editor of the European Journal of Radiology.

tomb

He is buried in the cemetery in Dolgenbrodt (Heidesee municipality).

Honors

Werner Porstmann was appointed a corresponding member of the German Radiological Society in 1971 and received honorary memberships in radiological and cardiological societies (Czechoslovak, Slovak and Polish Society for Radiology, Society for Cardiology and Angiology of the GDR). He was a member of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina and corresponding member of the German Academy of Sciences in Berlin .

His scientific achievements were recognized by high state awards such as the National Prize of the GDR in 1969 and 1979, the Order of the Banner of Labor , the GDR Medal of Merit and the Virchow Prize. In 1987 he was posthumously awarded the A. Grüntzig Prize of the European Society of Cardiology .

The Society for Cardiology and Angiology of the GDR created a Porstmann Prize after his death . The German Radiological Society honored his memory with a scholarship, continued by the German Society for Interventional Radiology and Minimally Invasive Therapy (DeGIR) with a Porstmann Prize since 2008.

literature

Werner Porstmann is the author and co-author of numerous scientific publications on catheter diagnostics of cardiovascular diseases and intervention radiology. A large number of publications were produced under his leadership.

Own works

• with W. Geißler and W. Wolf: The retrograde levocardiography in connection with the intracardiac pressure measurement. In: Advances in X-Ray and Nuclear Medicine. Oct. 1958, 89 (4), pp. 397-409.
• with L. Wierny and H. Warnke: The closure of the D. arteriosus persistens without thoracotomy. In: Radiologia diagnostica. 1968; 9 (2), pp. 168-169.
• with L. Wierny: Intravascular recanalization of inoperable arterial obliterations. In: Zentralblatt für Chirurgie. 1967; 92 (26a) Pt 2, pp. 1586-1591.
• A new corset balloon catheter for transluminal recanalization according to Dotter with special consideration of obliterations in the pelvic arteries. In: Radiologia diagnostica. 1973; 14 (2), pp. 239-244.
• with L. Wierny and R. Plass: Long-term results in 100 consecutive patients treated by transluminal angioplasty. In: Radiology. Sept. 1974, 112 (3), pp. 543-548.
• with K. Hieronymi, L. Wierny and H. Warnke: Nonsurgical closure of oversized patent ductus arteriosus with pulmonary hypertension: Report of a case. In: Circulation. v50 n2 (19740801), pp. 376-381.
• Therapeutic embolization of arteriovenous pulmonary fistulas by catheter technique. In: O. Eklöf: Current Concepts in Pediatric Radiology. Springer-Verlag, Berlin et al. 1977, ISBN 3-540-08279-4 .
• with RA Parsi: treatment of central coronary stenoses by PTKA with balloon catheters. In: Medizin aktuell. 1979.

Literature about Porstmann

• Karl-Otto Kagel: pioneer in the shadow of the wall. The biography about Werner Porstmann AtheneMedia-Verlag, 2014, ISBN 978-3-86992-214-0 .