Johannes Otto Kehr (27 April 1862 – 20 May 1916) was a German

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 professor of surgery born in

Waltershausen Waltershausen is a town in the south-western part of the district of Gotha in the state of Thuringia, Germany. Geography Geographic location Located on the verge of the Thuringian Basin just before the Thuringian Forest, Waltershausen is so ...

Saxe-Coburg and Gotha Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (german: Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha), or Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (german: Sachsen-Coburg-Gotha, links=no ), was an Ernestine, Thuringian duchy ruled by a branch of the House of Wettin, consisting of territories in the present-d ...

. He practiced surgery at a private clinic in Halberstädt, and from 1910 worked in

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 ...

. He is known for the development of operative procedures for the treatment of

gall bladder In vertebrates, the gallbladder, also known as the cholecyst, is a small hollow organ where bile is stored and concentrated before it is released into the small intestine. In humans, the pear-shaped gallbladder lies beneath the liver, althoug ...

and

bile duct A bile duct is any of a number of long tube-like structures that carry bile, and is present in most vertebrates. Bile is required for the digestion of food and is secreted by the liver into passages that carry bile toward the hepatic duct. It ...

diseases. In the late 19th century, Kehr popularized the

cholecystectomy Cholecystectomy is the surgical removal of the gallbladder. Cholecystectomy is a common treatment of symptomatic gallstones and other gallbladder conditions. In 2011, cholecystectomy was the eighth most common operating room procedure performed i ...

for the treatment of

gallstones A gallstone is a stone formed within the gallbladder from precipitated bile components. The term cholelithiasis may refer to the presence of gallstones or to any disease caused by gallstones, and choledocholithiasis refers to the presence of migr ...

. He is credited with performing 2600 operations of the

biliary tract The biliary tract, (biliary tree or biliary system) refers to the liver, gallbladder and bile ducts, and how they work together to make, store and secrete bile. Bile consists of water, electrolytes, bile acids, cholesterol, phospholipids and co ...

during his career.
Hans Kehr; not first, but foremost

Eponyms

His name is lent to

Kehr's sign Kehr's sign is the occurrence of acute pain in the tip of the shoulder due to the presence of blood or other irritants in the peritoneal cavity when a person is lying down and the legs are elevated. Kehr's sign in the left shoulder is considered a ...

, which is in an indication of acute pain in the left

shoulder The human shoulder is made up of three bones: the clavicle (collarbone), the scapula (shoulder blade), and the humerus (upper arm bone) as well as associated muscles, ligaments and tendons. The articulations between the bones of the shoulder mak ...

associated with a ruptured

spleen The spleen is an organ found in almost all vertebrates. Similar in structure to a large lymph node, it acts primarily as a blood filter. The word spleen comes .

. Also, he popularized a device for

biliary A bile duct is any of a number of long tube-like structures that carry bile, and is present in most vertebrates. Bile is required for the digestion of food and is secreted by the liver into passages that carry bile toward the hepatic duct. It ...

drainage that today is known as "Kehr's T-tube".

Selected publications

* ''Die chirurgische Behandlung der Gallensteinkrankheit'', 1896 * ''Die in meiner Klinik geübte Technik der Gallensteinoperationen'', 1905 * ''Die Praxis der Gallenwege-Chirurgie in Wort und Bild'', 2 volumes- 1913: (life works of Kehr) * ''Chirurgie der Gallenwege'', 1913

References

* ''Parts of this article are based on a translation of the equivalent article from the German Wikipedia.''
Journal of Surgery
Coledocolitiasis: Evolution of the diagnosis and treatment 1862 births 1916 deaths People from Waltershausen People from Saxe-Coburg and Gotha German surgeons {{Germany-med-bio-stub