Georg Lotheissen (September 14, 1868 – October 28, 1941) 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 surgeon born in

Geneva , neighboring_municipalities= Carouge, Chêne-Bougeries, Cologny, Lancy, Grand-Saconnex, Pregny-Chambésy, Vernier, Veyrier , website = https://www.geneve.ch/ Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevr ...

, Switzerland. In 1892 he earned his medical doctorate 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 ...

, and following graduation was an assistant to Emil Zuckerkandl (1849–1910), and a surgical apprentice under

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 Carl Gussenbauer (1842–1903). From 1895 to 1901, he served as first assistant to Viktor von Hacker (1852–1933) at the surgical clinic at Innsbruck, where in 1899 he received his habilitation in surgery. In 1902 he returned to Vienna, where in 1915 he became an associate professor. Lotheissen made important contributions in his work involving esophageal surgery and

hernia repair Hernia repair refers to a surgical operation for the correction of a hernia—a bulging of internal organs or tissues through the wall that contains it. It can be of two different types: herniorrhaphy; or hernioplasty. This operation may be pe ...

. In 1897, he was the first surgeon to suture the

conjoint tendon The conjoint tendon (previously known as the inguinal aponeurotic falx) is a sheath of connective tissue formed from the lower part of the common aponeurosis of the abdominal internal oblique muscle and the transversus abdominis muscle, joining ...

to Cooper's (pectineal) ligament, an operation he performed on a patient with a recurrent

inguinal hernia An inguinal hernia is a hernia (protrusion) of abdominal-cavity contents through the inguinal canal. Symptoms, which may include pain or discomfort especially with or following coughing, exercise, or bowel movements, are absent in about a third ...

. Decades later, American surgeon Chester McVay (1911–1987) popularized the operation, and this procedure is now referred to as a ''Lotheissen-McVay herniotomy''. His name is also associated with ''Lotheissen's operation'', sometimes known as ''Lotheissen's transinguinal approach''. This surgery involves operating for

femoral hernia Femoral hernias occur just below the inguinal ligament, when abdominal contents pass through a naturally occurring weakness in the abdominal wall called the femoral canal. Femoral hernias are a relatively uncommon type, accounting for only 3% of ...

through the posterior wall of the

inguinal canal The inguinal canals are the two passages in the anterior abdominal wall of humans and animals which in males convey the spermatic cords and in females the round ligament of the uterus. The inguinal canals are larger and more prominent in males. ...

References

''Georg Lotheissen''
@

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 bibliograp ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lotheissen, Georg 1868 births 1941 deaths Academics of the University of Vienna 19th-century Austrian physicians 20th-century Austrian physicians Austrian surgeons Austrian people of Swiss descent Physicians from Geneva 20th-century surgeons