František Chvostek (german: Franz Chvostek) () (May 21, 1835 – November 16, 1884) was a
Czech-Austrian military
physician
A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...
. He is most notable for having described
Chvostek's sign
The Chvostek sign () is a clinical sign that someone may have a low blood calcium level (a decreased serum calcium, called hypocalcemia). The Chvostek sign is the abnormal twitching of muscles that are activated (innervated) by the facial nerve ( ...
which he described in 1876.
[Chvostek F. ''Beitrag zur Tetanie.'' Wien Med Press 1876;17:1201-3, 1225-7, 1253-8, 1313-16.]
Chvostek was born in
Frýdek-Místek
Frýdek-Místek (, pl, Frydek-Mistek; german: Friede(c)k-Mistek) is a city in the Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 54,000 inhabitants. The historic centres of both Frýdek and Místek are well preserved and are protecte ...
,
Moravia
Moravia ( , also , ; cs, Morava ; german: link=yes, Mähren ; pl, Morawy ; szl, Morawa; la, Moravia) is a historical region in the east of the Czech Republic and one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia.
The me ...
. He studied at the medical-surgical Josephs-Akademie where he received his doctorate in 1861. He served the ''Garnisonsspital Nr. 1'' in
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
until 1863. From 1863 to 1867 he was the assistant of
Adalbert Duchek (1824–1882) and from 1868 to 1871 he lectured on
electrotherapy
Electrotherapy is the use of electrical energy as a medical treatment. In medicine, the term ''electrotherapy'' can apply to a variety of treatments, including the use of electrical devices such as deep brain stimulators for neurological dise ...
at the Josephs-Akademie, an academy for military physicians.
In 1871 Chvostek took over Duchek's medical clinic and headed this until the academy was closed in 1874. From then on he worked as chief of the internal department of the Garnisonsspital Nr. 1 and Korrepetitor at the military courses, until his death in Vienna in 1884 as Oberstabsarzt and professor.
References
External links
* http://www.whonamedit.com/doctor.cfm/2586.html
Czech military doctors
Austrian military doctors
People from Austrian Silesia
Austrian people of Czech descent
1835 births
1884 deaths
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