Robert Gersuny

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Robert Gersuny

Robert Gersuny (born January 15, 1844 in Teplitz , Bohemia , † October 31, 1924 in Vienna ) was an Austrian surgeon.

Life

Gersuny was born as the second son of a spa doctor in Teplitz. In 1861 he began studying medicine at the Charles University in Prague , where he was active in the Corps Austria . He received his doctorate in 1866 and worked as a secondary physician at the Prague General Hospital under Rudolf Jaksch . The treatment methods that were quite primitive at the time, especially those of the then rampant cholera , depressed him. His relationship with his teacher Jaksch was also not without tension. Even in old age he vividly remembered his saying "If I have rendered you harmless, my highest goal has been achieved."

At this time, Gersuny was reading Theodor Billroth's General Surgery , whereupon he applied for admission as an operation child at the clinic where Billroth worked. He was accepted and took up his post at the II Surgical University Clinic in October 1869. Billroth made him his private assistant in 1872. The job of a private assistant was difficult at the time, because even major operations were performed in the patient's home. He also accompanied Billroth on his travels as a consulting doctor to Poland, Russia and Africa. From 1880 to 1893 Gersuny worked as a primary surgeon at the Karolinen Children's Hospital in Vienna. During this time he established a good reputation as a surgeon by going his own way for the benefit of the sick. In this way he was able to prove that isolated bone tuberculosis can be cured by radical removal of the focus of the disease. For a long time he was one of the busiest surgeons in Vienna. Often times, he successfully took on cases that other doctors rejected as too complicated. In 1882 Gersuny became Primarius of the Rudolfinerhaus founded by Billroth in 1879 , a hospital with a nursing school in Vienna. After his death he took over the management of the Rudolfinerhaus in 1894 and expanded it in the following years. He headed it until his death in 1924. His focus was on the field of plastic surgery . Gersuny also saw the goal and legacy of Billroth in creating a model institution for the training of nurses. They should acquire the latest knowledge and also be able to “get to know all the facilities that can be given to the sick.” Gersuny and the respective superior of the sisterhood made a decisive contribution to the high level of training for nurses in Austria. Agnes Karll , the reformer of German nursing and founder of the German professional organization BOKD, established relationships with the Rudolfinerhaus in order to get to know the high standard of nursing there.

Paraffin injection according to the Gersun method modified by H. Eckstein, rhinoplasty 1902/1903

Gersuny is considered to be the inventor of paraffin injections, with which he created " subcutaneous prostheses" that replaced tissue components that were lost. To this end, he injected a substance often used in ointments, petroleum jelly , under the skin and observed that the injected mass, if left untouched for some time, remained in place without irritation without being absorbed by the body in any significant way . The fact that there were hardly any traces left on the outer skin prompted Gersuny to apply the method to a whole range of different forms of illness, most of which the aim was to cover up the loss of tissue components. However, this was a mistake with serious consequences, because over the next few decades it turned out that the injection of paraffins can lead to lipogranulomas in very many cases . These granulomas arise as a foreign body reaction of the organism to the paraffin. Around the middle of this century, new substances such as Teflon , silicone and collagen were therefore used.

Gersuny also invented a number of surgical and gynecological operating methods that became widely accepted.

In 1924, Gersunygasse was named after him in Vienna- Döbling (19th district) .

Fonts

  • Doctor and patient. Vienna 1884
  • About wrong diagnoses. Vienna 1887
  • Remarks on the specialty in medicine. Vienna 1892
  • Dregs of life. Hugo Heller & Co., Vienna-Leipzig 1906 (aphorisms)
  • Theodor Billroth . In: Masters of Medicine. Volume 4, Vienna-Berlin-Leipzig-Munich, Rikola Verlag, 1922.

literature

Web links

Commons : Robert Gersuny  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ilsemarie Walter : Robert Gersuny , in: Hubert Kolling (Hrsg.): Biographical Lexicon for Nursing History “Who was who in nursing history” , Vol. 7 hps media Nidda 2015, pp. 103 + 104.
  2. ↑ Christine Auer: History of the nursing professions as a subject. The curriculum development in nursing education and training , dissertation chair in the history of medicine Wolfgang U. Eckart , Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg , 2008, p. 171.
  3. ^ R. Gersuny: Hard and soft paraffin prostheses. In: Zentralbl Chir 30, 1903, p. 1.
  4. ^ J. Glicenstein: The first "fillers", vaseline and paraffin. From miracle to disaster. In: Ann Chir Plast Esthet 52, 2007, pp. 157-161. PMID 16860452 (in French)
personal data
SURNAME Gersuny, Robert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian surgeon
DATE OF BIRTH January 15, 1844
PLACE OF BIRTH Teplitz , Bohemia
DATE OF DEATH October 31, 1924
Place of death Vienna