Friedrich Wegener

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Friedrich Wegener (born April 7, 1907 in Varel , † July 9, 1990 in Lübeck ) was a German pathologist .

family

Wegener was the son of the doctor and surgeon Friedrich Wegener, who practiced at the St. Josefsstift hospital in Varel, and his wife Thyra Cecilia (Thydén), a gymnastics teacher. His younger brother Paul made a career during the National Socialist era , most recently as Reich Defense Commissioner . In 1934 he married Sophie Madsen († 1974), and this connection resulted in seven children. In 1975 he married Ursula Zacharias.

education and profession

After graduating from high school in Wilhelmshaven and Jever (1926), Wegener studied in Munich up to the Physikum (preliminary medical examination). Then he transferred to the University of Kiel , passed his medical exam here in 1932 and worked as a medical intern at the Institute for Pathology at the University of Kiel until the spring of 1933 . During his studies in Kiel he competed as a track and field athlete for Kiel TV , in 1931 he was German champion in throwing a ball , and in 1932 he took third place.

1933 to 1945

From 1935 (until 1939) he worked at the pathological institute of Martin Staemmler at the University of Breslau , after he had received the chair of pathology there, as first assistant and deputy headed the prosthesis at the Wenzel-Hanke Hospital and the Allerheiligen Hospital. In addition, he took on a variety of teaching duties (lectures for students of medicine and dentistry: dissection course, histological course and special pathology for dentists). In addition, he acted here as a teacher for histology , anatomy and microtechnology at the school for medical-technical assistants.

During the Second World War , Wegener first came to Litzmannstadt ( Łódź ) in occupied Poland as a Wehrmacht pathologist . There he later worked mainly as a civilian pathologist at the health department. In 2006, details of Wegener's connection with National Socialism became public for the first time . According to files in the Federal Archives in Berlin, Wegener was a member of the SA as early as 1932 , he joined the NSDAP in 1933 , was organized in the NS-Ärztebund and later became a Sanitätsobersturmbannführer of the SA. Wegener also appears on war criminals search lists of the Polish authorities, and his file has apparently been forwarded to the United Nations War Crimes Commission . The acts that led to these allegations remain unclear to this day. There is only a letter from Wegener in which he announces that he will soon be dealing with the phenomenon of air embolism . The participation of Wegener in human experiments could not be proven until today. According to the current state of the files, no charges have ever been brought against Wegener. After all, it is known that Martin Staemmler, Wegener's long-time director of the institute and mentor, supported the Nazi system and published extensively on racial hygiene .

After 1945

After Germany's surrender, Wegener was taken prisoner by the Americans and the English, from which he was released in the summer of 1945. He then worked as an agricultural worker until 1947.

From 1948 Friedrich Wegener worked first as a scientific assistant, then as a senior physician at the pathological institute of the city hospitals and the Lübeck Medical Academy and directed the prosecution of the East Hospital. In addition to a teaching position at the Medical Academy (section course, 1966–1969), he taught the subjects of anatomy and histology at the state training institute for medical-technical assistants. After his retirement in 1970, Wegener established himself as a specialist in pathology and ran his own pathology practice for several years.

In 1976 the Medical University of Lübeck awarded him an honorary doctorate. In 1986 he received the plaque of honor from the Mayo Clinic and Foundation, Rochester (USA), and in 1987 an award from the city of Milan ( Ambrogino ). He was also a member of the German Society for Pathology and the Association of Großhamburger Pathologists.

power

During the time in Wroclaw, the first contribution was made about the observation of a previously unknown granulomatous disease ( rhinitis , kidney failure , systemic vasculitis ) in three patients, which has been known as Wegener's granulomatosis since the 1960s, based on a consensus of the American College of Rheumatology however, today it is alternatively referred to as granulomatosis with polyangiitis . The test results were presented for the first time in September 1936 at the 29th conference of the German Pathological Society in Breslau.

In addition to numerous contributions to the granulomatosis he described for the first time, Wegener's scientific publications dealt with the brown lipoma , pathological phenomena in the female genital organs (in leukosis , in periarteritis nodosa ), metastatic cancerous liver cirrhosis , acute fatty liver during pregnancy, and artificial postmortem fat embolism and the problem of the hepatotoxicity of caffeine and theophylline .

nomenclature

Wegener got to know various granulomatous diseases while working at the Pathological Institute in Kiel ( Kussmaul-Maier syndrome , Bang's disease ). Even when the three original Wegener's cases were presented, it was suspected that there was a disease of its own. Wegener summarized the results of his observations of this peculiar granulomatous disease in 1939 under the term rhinogenic granulomatosis (also pneumogenic granulomatosis ). This work is considered to be the classic work of pathology. It was not until later publications by Ringertz (1947), Johnson (1948), Gabriel Charles Godman and Jacob Churg (1954) that the term “Wegener's granulomatosis” ( Wegener's granulomatosis ) was established in the medical literature. This designation is still common today.

In the course of his life, Wegener himself had observed a total of 12 cases of this granulomatous disease. His friend and colleague Heinz Klinger had reported a similar case eight years earlier as a "borderline case of periarteritis nodosa", but did not emphasize the independence of the syndrome. The clinical symptoms are said to have been described by McBride as early as 1896 .

Due to the more recent information on the first person describing it and in particular the information on Wegener's biography at the time of National Socialism that became known in 2006, the use of the term "Wegener's granulomatosis" was intensely discussed. In 2011, the American College of Rheumatology, the American Society of Nephrology, and the American League against Rheumatism jointly proposed the name "Granulomatosis with Polyangitis." The newer name is widely used in the scientific literature. The short form GPA is also often used.

Works

  • About generalized, septic vascular diseases. In: Verh. Dtsch. Pathol. Ges. 29, 1937, p. 202.
  • About a peculiar rhinogenic granulomatosis with particular involvement of the arterial system and kidneys. In: Contribution Pathol. Anat. Gen. Pathol. 102, 1939, p. 36.
  • Wegener's granulomatosis. In: HC Hopf, K. Poeck, H. Schliack (eds.): Neurology in practice and clinic. Volume 2, Stuttgart 1981, ISBN 3-13-597901-6 , p. 4219.

literature

Web links

Footnotes

  1. ^ Klaus Amrhein: Biographical Handbook on the History of German Athletics 1898-2005 . 2 volumes. German Athletics Promotion and Project Society , Darmstadt 2005, DNB 1012731138 , p. 1269.
  2. ↑ Alexander Woywodt, Eric L. Matteson: Wegener's granulomatosis - probing the untold past of the man behind the eponym. In: Rheumatology (Oxford). 45, No. 10, October 2006, pp. 1303-1306 doi: 10.1093 / rheumatology / kel258 . PMID 16887845
  3. ↑ Ronald J. Falk, Wolfgang L. Gross, Loïc Guillevin, Gary S. Hoffman, David RW Jayne: Granulomatosis with Polyangiitis (Wegener's): An alternative name for Wegener's Granulomatosis . In: Arthritis & Rheumatism . tape 63 , no. 4 , April 2011, p. 863-864 , doi : 10.1002 / art.30286 ( wiley.com [accessed August 27, 2019]).
personal data
SURNAME Wegener, Friedrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German pathologist
DATE OF BIRTH April 7, 1907
PLACE OF BIRTH Varel
DATE OF DEATH July 9, 1990
Place of death Lübeck