Irving L. Lichtenstein

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Irving Lester Lichtenstein (born  February 21, 1920 in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , †  June 11, 2000 in Marina del Rey , California ) was an American surgeon . He developed a surgical technique named after him that fundamentally improved the treatment of hernias , and for this reason is considered a pioneer in hernia surgery.

Life

Irving Lichtenstein was born in Philadelphia in 1920 and studied medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and Hahnemann Medical College , a forerunner to the medical school of Drexel University . He later worked at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles and as a lecturer at the medical faculty of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). From the end of the 1950s he developed a new surgical method for the treatment of hernias based on observations and experimental investigations into the resilience of surgical sutures and wound healing . The basis was to avoid contraction of the tissue to be sutured and to use local anesthesia instead of general anesthesia .

During a meeting of the American Medical Association in San Francisco in 1964 , he presented his method to the professional world for the first time. Subsequent developments in technology included the development of simplified suturing techniques and the use of plastic-based nets to prevent the hernia from recurring. Lichtenstein's hernia treatment, in addition to the Shouldice inguinal hernia operation developed by Edward Earle Shouldice , became widespread worldwide from the late 1980s and is considered the gold standard in the United States due to its low complication rate , high patient comfort and low cost . It can be done on an outpatient basis and, compared to other techniques, leads to significantly shorter rehabilitation and incapacity phases .

Irving Lichtenstein later set up his own practice in Beverly Hills . In addition to his medical work, he was an active member of the American Civil Liberties Union for many years . He was married twice and has four daughters. At the age of 80 he died in Marina del Rey in 2000 as a result of a long-standing illness of Parkinson's disease . The Lichtenstein Amid Hernia Clinic , which he founded in 1984 as the Lichtenstein Hernia Institute , has been part of UCLA since 2007 and named after him, in addition to the surgical technique he developed for hernia treatment, which is known as Lichtenstein surgery in German-speaking countries received its current name in 2011.

Works (selection)

  • Local Anesthesia for Hernioplasty: Immediate Ambulation and Return to Work - A Preliminary Report. In: California Medicine. 100/1964, pp. 106-109
  • Hernia Repair Without Disability: A Surgical Atlas Illustrating the Anatomy, Technique, and Physiologic Rationale of the "One-Day" Hernia. Saint Louis 1970, 1986
  • Herniorrhaphy. A Personal Experience With 6,321 Cases. In: The American Journal of Surgery . 153/1987, pp. 553-559

literature

personal data
SURNAME Lichtenstein, Irving L.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Lichtenstein, Irving Lester
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American surgeon and pioneer in hernia surgery
DATE OF BIRTH February 21, 1920
PLACE OF BIRTH Philadelphia , Pennsylvania
DATE OF DEATH June 11, 2000
Place of death Marina del Rey , California