Paul Niehans

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Paul Niehans (born November 21, 1882 in Bern , † September 1, 1971 in Montreux ), entitled to residency in Bern , was a Swiss doctor. He is considered to be the inventor of fresh cell therapy ( life cell therapy or cell therapy ).

Life

The son of a surgeon from Bern studied medicine in Bern and Zurich , became a doctor and initially worked as a military doctor. He later practiced as a surgeon . Niehans also marketed skin care products under the trade name La Prairie and later became head of a private clinic in Clarens VD , a suburb of Montreux on Lake Geneva .

In 1931 Niehans introduced the process of fresh cell therapy as cellular therapy . Sheep fetal cell suspensions are injected into the patient. It is a non-surgical form of xenotransplantation in humans that is of little importance today.

Forerunners of Niehans cellular therapy were in the 17th century the French Jean-Baptiste Denis (1640-1704), who tried to transfuse calf's blood (in a psychiatric patient), the Bernese Theodor Kocher (1841-1917), Charles-Édouard Brown-Séquard (Injections of testicular tissue in young dogs in a self-experiment), Serge Voronoff and Eugen Steinach (monkey testicle xenotransplants).

Niehans had tried in vain to introduce his cellular therapy into medicine as an established therapeutic method. The lack of success and known incidents in the use of this method, however, meant that it is now only used to a limited extent outside of scientific medicine.

Treatment of Pope Pius XII by Niehans was the reason for the temporary popularity of fresh cell therapy. Many celebrities such as Helmut Schön , the Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie , Willy Millowitsch , Emperor Hirohito and others were treated by Niehans afterwards.

Historical meaning

Niehans' mother was the daughter of a connection that the German Emperor Friedrich III. was received. She was adopted by her mother's governess and later married a surgeon from Bern. In the 19th century, such an adoption washed out the illegitimate, which was the only way to later marry a socially well-off surgeon. Her son Paul, born in 1882, wanted to become a Prussian officer and had already obtained the consent of the German Emperor Wilhelm II . But his parents advised against it. He studied theology and became a preacher, as his mother had wished. Unsatisfied, he took up medicine, following his father's advice. He became a doctor and reserve officer in the Swiss Army. When Kaiser Wilhelm II paid a state visit to Switzerland (September 3 to 8, 1912), the young lieutenant Niehaus was attached to the Kaiser as an honorary adjudicator. During the First World War he operated in the service of the Red Cross, first at first aid stations of the French army, then on the Austrian Dolomite front. Archduke Eugen named the Swiss doctor k. and k. Division doctor. As a result, Niehans operated on more than 10,000 soldiers.

Honors

Works

  • P. Niehans: 20 years of cellular therapy . Urban and Schwarzenberg Publishing House, 1952

credentials

  1. ^ Duchess Viktoria Luise: Im Strom der Zeit , Göttinger Verlagsanstalt, 1974.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Niehans, Paul
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss doctor, inventor of fresh cell therapy
DATE OF BIRTH November 21, 1882
PLACE OF BIRTH Bern
DATE OF DEATH 1st September 1971
Place of death Montreux