Georg Clemens Perthes (17 January 1869 – 3 January 1927) was a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

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 ...

and

X-ray An X-ray, or, much less commonly, X-radiation, is a penetrating form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation. Most X-rays have a wavelength ranging from 10 picometers to 10 nanometers, corresponding to frequencies in the range 30&nb ...

diagnostic pioneer.

Biography

Perthes was born in

Moers Moers (; older form: ''Mörs''; archaic Dutch language, Dutch: ''Murse'', ''Murs'' or ''Meurs'') is a German List of cities and towns in Germany, city on the western bank of the Rhine, close to Duisburg. Moers belongs to the district of Wesel (d ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. In 1891 he received his medical doctorate from the

University of Bonn The Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (german: Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn) is a public research university located in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the ( en, Rhine U ...

, and later was a surgeon in

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr r ...

and

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

where he worked with

Friedrich Trendelenburg Friedrich Trendelenburg (; 24 May 184415 December 1924) was a German surgeon. He was son of the philosophy, philosopher Friedrich Adolf Trendelenburg, father of the pharmacology, pharmacologist Paul Trendelenburg and grandfather of the pharmaco ...

(1844–1924). In 1910 he succeeded

Paul von Bruns Paul von Bruns was a German surgeon. He was born in Tübingen, and was the son of surgeon Victor von Bruns. His father-in-law was Protestant theologian Karl Heinrich Weizsäcker. Bruns was born July 2, 1846. In 1882, Bruns became director of the ...

(1846–1916) as head of the surgical clinic at

Tübingen Tübingen (, , Swabian: ''Dibenga'') is a traditional university city in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated south of the state capital, Stuttgart, and developed on both sides of the Neckar and Ammer rivers. about one in three ...

. In 1900–01 he was a military surgeon at the German colonial seaport of

Tsingtao Qingdao (, also spelled Tsingtao; , Mandarin: ) is a major city in eastern Shandong Province. The city's name in Chinese characters literally means " azure island". Located on China's Yellow Sea coast, it is a major nodal city of the One Belt ...

(today known as

Qingdao Qingdao (, also spelled Tsingtao; , Mandarin: ) is a major city in eastern Shandong Province. The city's name in Chinese characters literally means " azure island". Located on China's Yellow Sea coast, it is a major nodal city of the One Belt ...

, China). Perthes' primary area of research involved

radiological In physics, radiation is the emission or transmission of energy in the form of waves or particles through space or through a material medium. This includes: * ''electromagnetic radiation'', such as radio waves, microwaves, infrared, visib ...

treatment and therapy. He pioneered the use of radiology for the treatment of

warts Warts are typically small, rough, hard growths that are similar in color to the rest of the skin. They typically do not result in other symptoms, except when on the bottom of the feet, where they may be painful. While they usually occur on the ...

skin cancer Skin cancers are cancers that arise from the skin. They are due to the development of abnormal cells that have the ability to invade or spread to other parts of the body. There are three main types of skin cancers: basal-cell skin cancer (BCC) ...

and breast carcinomas. Today he is best known for a child illness named Perthes' disease, also known as Legg–Calvé–Perthes syndrome, a disease causing avascular necrosis of the

hip joint In vertebrate anatomy, hip (or "coxa"Latin ''coxa'' was used by Celsus in the sense "hip", but by Pliny the Elder in the sense "hip bone" (Diab, p 77) in medical terminology) refers to either an anatomical region or a joint. The hip region is ...

. Perthes took the first X-rays of a patient with this syndrome in 1898; however, his findings weren't published until several years later. While in Tsingtao, he had the opportunity to perform radiological studies on the feet of Chinese women that had been subjected to the traditional practice of being crushed and bound. As a surgeon Perthes made several contributions, including a procedure of suction drainage for

empyema An empyema () is a collection or gathering of pus within a naturally existing anatomical cavity. For example, pleural empyema is empyema of the pleural cavity. It must be differentiated from an abscess, which is a collection of pus in a newly fo ...

, and the use of a pneumatic cuff for

hemostasis In biology, hemostasis or haemostasis is a process to prevent and stop bleeding, meaning to keep blood within a damaged blood vessel (the opposite of hemostasis is hemorrhage). It is the first stage of wound healing. This involves coagulation, ...

during limb surgeries. Also, a test for evaluating the competence of deep

femoral vein In the human body, the femoral vein is a blood vessel that accompanies the femoral artery in the femoral sheath. It begins at the adductor hiatus (an opening in the adductor magnus muscle) as the continuation of the popliteal vein. It ends a ...

s prior to

varicose vein Varicose veins, also known as varicoses, are a medical condition in which superficial veins become enlarged and twisted. These veins typically develop in the legs, just under the skin. Varicose veins usually cause few symptoms. However, some indi ...

surgery is called the "

Perthes test The Perthes test is a clinical test for assessing the patency of the deep femoral vein prior to varicose vein surgery. It is named after German surgeon Georg Perthes. The limb is elevated and an elastic bandage is applied firmly from the toes to ...

" (this test is sometimes referred to as the "Delbet–Mocquot test", named after French physicians

Pierre Delbet Pierre Delbet (15 November 1861 – 17 July 1957) was a French surgeon born in La Ferté-Gaucher. Biography In 1889 he received his medical doctorate, and in 1909 became a professor of clinical surgery in Paris. In 1921 he became a member of ...

and Pierre Mocquot. Perthes died of a stroke in 1927 in

Arosa , neighboring_municipalities= Alvaneu, Davos, Langwies, Lantsch/Lenz, Molinis, Peist, Schmitten, Tschiertschen, Vaz/Obervaz, Wiesen , twintowns = Fukumitsu (Japan) Arosa is a town and a municipality in the Plessur Region in the canton o ...

, Switzerland.

Publications

* ''Über den Einfluss der Röntgenstrahlen auf epitheliale Gewebe, insbesondere auf das Carcinom''. in von Langenbeck's Archiv für klinische Chirurgie, Berlin, 1903, 71: 955–1000 (On the influence of X-rays involving epithelial tissues, in particular cancer). * ''Über Operationen bei habitueller Schulterluxation''. Deutsche Zeitschrift für Chirurgie, Leipzig, 1906, 85: 199–227 (On surgery for habitual shoulder dislocation). * ''Verletzungen und Krankheiten der Kiefer''. Deutsche Chirurgie 33a, Stuttgart, 1907; second edition by Eduard Kurt Borchers, 1932 (Injuries and diseases of the jaw). * ''Über Arthritis deformans juvenilis. Deutsche Zeitschrift für Chirurgie'', Leipzig, 1910, 107: 111–159 (On

rheumatoid arthritis Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a long-term autoimmune disorder that primarily affects joints. It typically results in warm, swollen, and painful joints. Pain and stiffness often worsen following rest. Most commonly, the wrist and hands are involv ...

in adolescents). * ''Chirurgia externa''. In: Handbuch der gesamten Therapie. 4th edition, Volume 6, Jena 1911 * ''Die Chirurgie der Zähne, des Zahnfleisches und der Kiefer''. In: Handbuch der praktischen Chirurgie, 4th edition, Volume 1, Stuttgart, 1913, Sixth Edition- 1926 (with Oskar Römer); (Surgery of the teeth, gums and jaw). * ''Über den Tod. Tübingen 1920''; second edition, Stuttgart 1927 (On death). * ''Über plastischen Daumenersatz insbesondere bei Verlust des ganzen Daumenstrahles''. Archiv für orthopädische und Unfall-Chirurgie, München 1921, 19: 198–214 (Plastic replacement of thumb, etc.).

References

''Georg Clemens Perthes''
@

Whonamedit? ''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 ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Perthes, Georg 1869 births 1927 deaths German surgeons People from Moers University of Bonn alumni University of Tübingen faculty