Felix von Winiwarter (February 28, 1852 – July 10, 1931) was an

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

n physician who was a native of

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. In 1876 he earned his doctorate at the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich histor ...

, and remained in Vienna as an assistant in the clinic of

Heinrich von Bamberger Heinrich von Bamberger (27 December 1822, Zwornarka, Kingdom of Bohemia – 9 November 1888, Vienna) was an Austrian pathologist. He was father to internist Eugen von Bamberger (1858-1921). Biography In 1847 he earned his doctorate from the Un ...

(1822–1888). Soon afterwards, he became a surgical apprentice to

Theodor Billroth Christian Albert Theodor Billroth (26 April 18296 February 1894) was a German surgeon and amateur musician. As a surgeon, he is generally regarded as the founding father of modern abdominal surgery. As a musician, he was a close friend and conf ...

(1829–1894), and from 1878 to 1881 worked as a secondary physician under

Leopold Ritter von Dittel Leopold Ritter von Dittel (May 29, 1815 – July 28, 1898) was an Austrian urologist born in Fulnek, a community now located in the Czech Republic. Dittel received his medical doctorate in 1840 from the University of Vienna, and as a young man wo ...

(1815–1898). In 1881 he became hospital director at ''Landesklinikum Weinviertel'' in

Hollabrunn Hollabrunn () is a district capital town in the Austrian States of Austria, state of Lower Austria, on the Göllersbach river. It is situated in the heart of the biggest wine region of Austria, the Weinviertel. History The surroundings of Ho ...

. He was a younger brother to

Alexander von Winiwarter Alexander von Winiwarter (April 22, 1848 – October 31, 1917) was an Austrian-Belgian surgeon who was a native of Vienna. He was the brother of physician Felix von Winiwarter (1852-1931). Alexander Winiwarter obtained his medical doctorate in ...

(1848–1917), who also spent part of his career working with Theodor Billroth. Winiwarter is credited for providing an early description of

thromboangiitis obliterans Thromboangiitis obliterans, also known as Buerger disease (English ; ) or Winiwarter-Buerger disease, is a recurring progressive inflammation and thrombosis (clotting) of small and medium arteries and veins of the hands and feet. It is strongly a ...

. In 1879 he described a situation involving a 57-year-old male patient who had an unusual obliteration of the

arteries An artery (plural arteries) () is a blood vessel in humans and most animals that takes blood away from the heart to one or more parts of the body (tissues, lungs, brain etc.). Most arteries carry oxygenated blood; the two exceptions are the pul ...

and

veins Veins are blood vessels in humans and most other animals that carry blood towards the heart. Most veins carry deoxygenated blood from the tissues back to the heart; exceptions are the pulmonary and umbilical veins, both of which carry oxygenated b ...

of the leg. He attributed this disorder to new growth of tissue from the

intima The tunica intima (New Latin "inner coat"), or intima for short, is the innermost tunica (layer) of an artery or vein. It is made up of one layer of endothelial cells and is supported by an internal elastic lamina. The endothelial cells are in ...

, and proposed the name "endarteritis obliterans" for the disease. Winiwarter's discovery wasn't the first modern description of the condition, as three years earlier,

bacteriologist A bacteriologist is a microbiologist, or similarly trained professional, in bacteriology -- a subdivision of microbiology that studies bacteria, typically Pathogenic bacteria, pathogenic ones. Bacteriologists are interested in studying and learnin ...

Carl Friedländer Carl Friedländer (19 November 1847, Brieg (Brzeg), Silesia – 13 May 1887, Meran (Merano), County of Tyrol) was a German pathologist and microbiologist who helped discover the bacterial cause of pneumonia in 1882. He also first described throm ...

(1847–1887) referred to it as "arteritis obliterans". In 1908, American

surgeon In modern medicine, a surgeon is a medical professional who performs surgery. Although there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon usually is also a licensed physician or received the same medical training as ...

Leo Buerger Leo Buerger (English ; ) (September 13, 1879 in Vienna – October 6, 1943 in New York City) was an Austrian American pathologist, surgeon and urologist. Buerger's disease is named for him. Family and education In 1880s his family emigrated t ...

(1879–1943) further described the disease, and in 1924 published a

monograph A monograph is a specialist work of writing (in contrast to reference works) or exhibition on a single subject or an aspect of a subject, often by a single author or artist, and usually on a scholarly subject. In library cataloging, ''monograph ...

based on analyses taken from 500 patients. The disease was later referred to as "Winiwarter–Buerger syndrome", "Buerger's disease" or as "thromboangiitis obliterans".

References

Felix von Winiwarter
@

Who Named It ''Whonamedit?'' is an online English-language dictionary of medical eponyms and the people associated with their identification. Though it is a dictionary, many eponyms and persons are presented in extensive articles with comprehensive bibliograph ...

1852 births 1931 deaths Physicians from Vienna {{austria-med-bio-stub