Carl Otto von Eicken (31 December 1873,

Mülheim an der Ruhr Mülheim, officially Mülheim an der Ruhr () and also described as ''"City on the River"'', is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany. It is located in the Ruhr Area between Duisburg, Essen, Oberhausen and Ratingen. It is home to many compan ...

– 29 June 1960,

Heilbronn Heilbronn () is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in northern Baden-Württemberg, Germany, surrounded by Heilbronn (district), Heilbronn District. With over 126,000 residents, it is the sixth-largest city in the state. From the late Mid ...

) was a German

otorhinolaryngologist Otorhinolaryngology ( , abbreviated ORL and also known as otolaryngology, otolaryngology–head and neck surgery (ORL–H&N or OHNS), or ear, nose, and throat (ENT)) is a surgical subspeciality within medicine that deals with the surgical a ...

Biography

He studied medicine at the universities of

Kiel Kiel () is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 246,243 (2021). Kiel lies approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the southeast of the J ...

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

, and

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

, where he served as an assistant to surgeon

Vincenz Czerny Vincenz Czerny (19 November 1842 – 3 October 1916) was a German Bohemian surgeon whose main contributions were in the fields of oncological and gynecological surgery. Czerny was born in Trutnov, Bohemia, Austro-Hungarian Empire. He initially ...

. He received his

habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in many European countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excellence in research, teaching and further education, usually including a ...

for laryngo-rhinology (1903) and

otology Otology is a branch of medicine which studies normal and pathological anatomy and physiology of the ear (hearing and vestibular sensory systems and related structures and functions) as well as their diseases, diagnosis and treatment. Otologic ...

(1909) at the

University of Freiburg The University of Freiburg (colloquially german: Uni Freiburg), officially the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg (german: Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg), is a public university, public research university located in Freiburg im Breisg ...

, and in 1911 became a full professor at the

University of Giessen University of Giessen, official name Justus Liebig University Giessen (german: Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen), is a large public research university in Giessen, Hesse, Germany. It is named after its most famous faculty member, Justus von L ...

, where subsequently, he was named head of the newly constructed ear, nose, and throat clinic. In 1920/21 he served as

university rector A rector (Latin for 'ruler') is a senior official in an educational institution, and can refer to an official in either a university or a secondary school. Outside the English-speaking world the rector is often the most senior official in a un ...

. In 1922 he succeeded

Gustav Killian Gustav Killian (2 June 1860 – 24 February 1921) was a German laryngologist and founder of the bronchoscopy. Life and death His father Johann Baptist Caesar Killian (1820–1889), the son of a ''städtischen Wegeaufsehers'' an urban way overseer, ...

(a former teacher) at the University of Berlin, where he maintained a professorship up until 1950.Carl Otto von Eicken, Vertreter der Hals-, Nasen- und Ohrenheilkunde in Giessen von 1910-1922
/ref> In May 1935 and November 1944, he removed a polyp from the left

vocal cord In humans, vocal cords, also known as vocal folds or voice reeds, are folds of throat tissues that are key in creating sounds through vocalization. The size of vocal cords affects the pitch of voice. Open when breathing and vibrating for speech ...

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

. He is largely known for developing methods of examination for the throat and

pharynx The pharynx (plural: pharynges) is the part of the throat behind the mouth and nasal cavity, and above the oesophagus and trachea (the tubes going down to the stomach and the lungs). It is found in vertebrates and invertebrates, though its struc ...

. The eponymous "Eicken's method" is facilitation of hypopharyngoscopy by means of forward traction on the

cricoid cartilage The cricoid cartilage , or simply cricoid (from the Greek ''krikoeides'' meaning "ring-shaped") or cricoid ring, is the only complete ring of cartilage around the trachea. It forms the back part of the voice box and functions as an attachment si ...

by a laryngeal probe. He was the author of over 100 medical works — with Alfred Schulz van Treeck, he published an atlas on ear, nose and throat diseases, titled ''Atlas der Hals-, Nasen-, Ohren-Krankheiten'' (1940).Atlas der Hals-, Nasen, Ohren-Krankheiten
ZVAB.com

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eicken, Carl Otto von 1873 births 1960 deaths People from Mülheim Heidelberg University alumni Academic staff of the Humboldt University of Berlin Academic staff of the University of Giessen German otolaryngologists 20th-century German physicians Members of the German Academy of Sciences at Berlin