Max Saenger (german: Max Sänger) (14 March 1853, Bayreuth – 12 January 1903,

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...

) was a German

obstetrician Obstetrics is the field of study concentrated on pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period. As a medical specialty, obstetrics is combined with gynecology under the discipline known as obstetrics and gynecology (OB/GYN), which is a surgic ...

and

gynecologist Gynaecology or gynecology (see spelling differences) is the area of medicine that involves the treatment of women's diseases, especially those of the reproductive organs. It is often paired with the field of obstetrics, forming the combined ...

who was a native of Bayreuth. He studied medicine at the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 Decemb ...

, then continued with graduate studies in OB/GYN and

pathology Pathology is the study of the causes and effects of disease or injury. The word ''pathology'' also refers to the study of disease in general, incorporating a wide range of biology research fields and medical practices. However, when used in ...

under Carl Siegmund Franz Credé (1819–1892). He later became a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at

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 ...

, and in 1890 was appointed professor of OB/GYN at the German University in Prague. In 1894 he co-founded the journal ''Monatsschrift für Geburtshilfe und Gynäkologie''. In 1882 he introduced the practice of

sutural Wormian bones, also known as intrasutural bones or sutural bones, are extra bone pieces that can occur within a suture (joint) in the skull. These are irregular isolated bones that can appear in addition to the usual centres of ossification of ...

closure of the

uterus The uterus (from Latin ''uterus'', plural ''uteri'') or womb () is the organ in the reproductive system of most female mammals, including humans that accommodates the embryonic and fetal development of one or more embryos until birth. The ...

following Caesarean section operations. The previous autumn, Ferdinand Adolf Kehrer (1837-1914) performed the first lower segment Caesarean section in Europe. Sänger's contribution preserved the mother's uterus and helped reduce the chance of infection. Afterwards, Kehrer and other surgeons adopted Sänger's methodology. Sänger used silver and silk thread as suture material.

Silver Silver is a chemical element with the symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical ...

sutures had been introduced into medicine by the American gynecologist James Marion Sims (1813-1883). Sänger was originally

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...

ish, but later converted to

Lutheranism Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...

. Despite his conversion, he suffered discrimination due to his Jewish background.Gynekologen Max Sänger og hans forhold til Nina og Edvard Grieg
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Terminology

* ''Saenger's suture'': the closure of the

uterine The uterus (from Latin ''uterus'', plural ''uteri'') or womb () is the organ in the reproductive system of most female mammals, including humans that accommodates the embryonic and fetal development of one or more embryos until birth. The ...

wound in Caesarean section by eight or ten deep silver wire sutures, and the use of twenty or more superficial stitches taken through the

peritoneum The peritoneum is the serous membrane forming the lining of the abdominal cavity or coelom in amniotes and some invertebrates, such as annelids. It covers most of the intra-abdominal (or coelomic) organs, and is composed of a layer of meso ...

. * ''Saenger's operation'': Cesarean section followed by careful closure of the uterine wound by three tiers of sutures. Also described as a Caesarean section in which the uterus is taken out through a long abdominal cut before the

fetus A fetus or foetus (; plural fetuses, feti, foetuses, or foeti) is the unborn offspring that develops from an animal embryo. Following embryonic development the fetal stage of development takes place. In human prenatal development, fetal dev ...

is removed.

Literature

* The Illustrated American Medical Dictionary (1938)
NCBI
National Library of Medicine; Max Sänger

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saenger, Max 1853 births 1903 deaths 19th-century German physicians German obstetricians German gynaecologists Academic staff of Leipzig University People from the Kingdom of Bavaria People from Bayreuth German people of Jewish descent Converts to Lutheranism from Judaism 19th-century Lutherans