Curt Moeller
Curt Moeller (born June 1, 1910 in Hamburg ; † March 20, 1965 there ) was a German doctor and a pioneer of dialysis .
Life and achievement
Moeller led in 1947 in Marienkrankenhaus Hamburg the peritoneal through, but his main focus was since 1948 the development of an apparatus for hemodialysis . Although dialysis was initially rejected by leading internists , Moeller continued to develop his "artificial kidney", collaborating with the company Alfred Huebscher KG, Hamburg. As early as 1948 he had completed the first model of a hemodialyzer that already had an air trap to prevent air embolism . In October 1951 he registered his “blood dialysis machine” for a patent, which was granted on June 19, 1952. In 1952 he became chief physician at the Lütjensee hospital and, after the hospital was closed in 1958, settled in Hamburg-Wandsbek as an internist.
The principle of the Moeller kidney consisted of a 7.5 to 11.4 meter long cellophane tube serving as a dialysis membrane, which was encased in a removable jacket made of hard rubber . A Ringer's lactate mixture (dialysate) flowed through the outside of the blood-carrying cavity in the tube using the counter-current principle . Models I to III of the Moeller kidney differ in the surface area of the dialysis membrane, which has been increased from 0.25 to 0.9 square meters. Model III (see illustration) was operational in September 1955. The Moeller kidney was transportable and was transported in a VW Beetle , including a Moeller flame photometer . If necessary, Moeller also went to distant treatment locations to treat patients with acute kidney failure , for example in the university clinics in Göttingen and Halle / Saale . He performed the first hemodialysis in February 1954 in the Hamburg-Heidberg hospital . Compared to today's dialysis machines, the time required for hemodialysis was extremely high, which is why Moeller developed a fourth model in the form of a coil dialyzer similar to the coil kidney by Kolff and Watschinger.
Moeller and his employees also developed bed scales that were then built by Seca for the patients connected to the dialyzer.
In 1985, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Hübscher company, the “Dr. med. Curt Moeller Memorial Foundation to Improve Safety in the Medical Field ”.
literature
- E. Quellhorst, B. Osten, H. Köhling: Curt Moeller, a pioneer of German nephrology . In: Kidney and Hypertension Diseases, issue 41/1, January 2012.
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Moeller, Curt |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German doctor, pioneer of dialysis |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 1, 1910 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Hamburg |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 20, 1965 |
| Place of death | Hamburg |