Walter Freudenthal (6 May 1893 – 27 March 1952) was a German-Jewish dermatologist who gave the earliest clear

histopathological Histopathology (compound of three Greek words: ''histos'' "tissue", πάθος ''pathos'' "suffering", and -λογία ''-logia'' "study of") refers to the microscopic examination of tissue in order to study the manifestations of disease. Spec ...

description of keratoma senile (

actinic keratosis Actinic keratosis (AK), sometimes called solar keratosis or senile keratosis, is a pre-cancerous area of thick, scaly, or crusty skin.Freedberg, et al. (2003). ''Fitzpatrick's Dermatology in General Medicine''. (6th ed.). McGraw-Hill. . Actinic k ...

) in 1926 in Breslau. In 1933, he moved to London to escape the Nazi regime and worked as a dermatopathologist at

University College Hospital University College Hospital (UCH) is a teaching hospital in the Fitzrovia area of the London Borough of Camden, England. The hospital, which was founded as the North London Hospital in 1834, is closely associated with University College Lond ...

(UCH) in London where he coined the term

keratoacanthoma Keratoacanthoma (KA) is a common low-grade (unlikely to metastasize or invade) rapidly-growing skin tumour that is believed to originate from the hair follicle (pilosebaceous unit) and can resemble squamous cell carcinoma. The defining characteris ...

in the 1940s. He worked with dermatologist Geoffrey Dowling on the connection between

dermatomyositis Dermatomyositis (DM) is a long-term inflammatory disorder which affects skin and the muscles. Its symptoms are generally a skin rash and worsening muscle weakness over time. These may occur suddenly or develop over months. Other symptoms may inc ...

and

scleroderma Scleroderma is a group of autoimmune diseases that may result in changes to the skin, blood vessels, muscles, and internal organs. The disease can be either localized to the skin or involve other organs, as well. Symptoms may include areas ...

and was later appointed to the first readership in dermatological histology by London University. In addition to lecturing, demonstrating specimens at the

Royal Society of Medicine The Royal Society of Medicine (RSM) is a medical society in the United Kingdom, headquartered in London. History The Society was established in 1805 as Medical and Chirurgical Society of London, meeting in two rooms in barristers’ chamber ...

and postgraduate training, Freudenthal wrote many papers on his histopathological findings, and chapters in dermatology textbooks.

Early life

Walter Freudenthal was born on 6 May 1893 in Breslau (later Wroclaw, Poland) in the

Silesia Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. Silesia is split ...

region of Germany, into a Jewish family of physicians. In 1913 he began to study medicine in Geneva, but this was interrupted by the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. Returning to Breslau in 1919, he resumed his medical education and completed it at the clinic of the Friedrich-Wilhelms University (now the University of Wrocław), graduating in 1920.

Early career

While working in the histopathology laboratory and being in charge of the male ward in the outpatient clinic, he became a university lecturer and then full professor. He became concerned that existing skin treatments were inadequate and started to work with a pharmacist to educate himself on the chemical content of various ointments and creams. At the same time, he lectured on

sexually transmitted diseases Sexually transmitted infections (STIs), also referred to as sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and the older term venereal diseases, are infections that are spread by sexual activity, especially vaginal intercourse, anal sex, and oral ...

, dermatohistopathology and related topics. He was particularly influenced by Breslau's chair of dermatology

Josef Jadassohn Joseph (Josef) Jadassohn (10 September 1863, Liegnitz – 24 March 1936, Zurich) was a German dermatologist. Biography He was an assistant to Albert Neisser at the Allerheiligen Hospital in Breslau until 1892, the director of the universit ...

, and was his assistant from 1920 to 1933 at the Breslau University. He also worked alongside other well-known names in the field of dermatology, such as W. N. Goldsmith,

Max Jessner Max Jessner (2 November 1887 – 27 August 1978) was a German dermatologist and university professor. In 1928 he travelled to Buriat-Mongolia on an expedition to study syphilis and the effects of the anti-syphilitic drug Salvarsan. After escaping ...

and Rudolph L. Mayer. After receiving his MD in 1922, he became a privatdozent in 1929. His most significant works were written at Breslau. He examined 14 biopsy specimens of lesions taken from the skin of either the back of the hands or the upper face from 13 people aged between 34 and 76. He gave the earliest histopathological definition of these lesions, which he called keratoma senile (

), and distinguished them from verruca senilis (

seborrheic keratosis A seborrheic keratosis is a non-cancerous (benign) skin tumour that originates from cells, namely keratinocytes, in the outer layer of the skin called the epidermis. Like liver spots, seborrheic keratoses are seen more often as people age. The tum ...

). The description appeared in the '' Archiv für Dermatologie und Syphilis'' in 1926 and was regarded by his colleagues as important. He also proposed that keratoma senile might be caused by sunlight.

University College Hospital

Like many other Jewish physicians at his university, the Nazi takeover in 1933 resulted in the withdrawal of his permission to lecture, and in due course he moved to England. On arrival in London he was asked to recertify in order to practice medicine. He opted against this and instead, with the help of Sir Archibald Gray, who had already recruited Freudenthal's old friend from Breslau W. N. Goldsmith, took up studies in dermatohistopathology at University College Hospital (UCH) in London. It was in this field that he was eventually appointed to the teaching faculty. During the Second World War, he assisted in the outpatient department of UCH, and after the war he became active in postgraduate training of home and international dermatologists. In 1945 he was elected to the first readership in dermatological histology at UCH. He also wrote about numerous other skin conditions including amyloidosis, glomus tumour, mucin in

granuloma annulare Granuloma annulare (GA) is a common, sometimes chronic skin condition which presents as reddish bumps on the skin arranged in a circle or ring. It can initially occur at any age, though two-thirds of patients are under 30 years old, and it is se ...

and Kaposi’s sarcoma. Encouragement and collaboration with dermatologist Geoffrey Dowling led to an interest in the relationship between

and

. He regularly attended the meetings of the dermatology section of the Royal Society of Medicine and demonstrated his specimens on the screen. His comments were reported in their ''Proceedings''. In addition, he noted significant

acanthosis The epidermis is the outermost of the three layers that comprise the skin, the inner layers being the dermis and hypodermis. The epidermis layer provides a barrier to infection from environmental pathogens and regulates the amount of water rele ...

in a lesion he was studying and coined the term "keratoacanthoma" which was adopted by dermatologist

Arthur Rook Arthur Rook may refer to: * Arthur Rook (equestrian) (1921–1989), English equestrian and Olympic champion * Arthur Rook (dermatologist) (1918–1991), British dermatologist and author See also * Arthur Rooke (fl. 1910s–1920s), British a ...

and pathologist Ian Whimster in 1950.

Death and legacy

Freudenthal suffered from constant headaches and heart disease in the final five years of life and, following a morning's work in the laboratory, died in London on 27 May 1952 at the age of 58. His wife survived him. The poet Ruth Hoffmann, who was also a friend of Freudenthal, devoted a significant section of her book to him. ''Meine Freunde aus Davids Geschlecht (My friends from David’s lineage)'' was published in 1947 in Berlin and contained a description of him, which was quoted by a colleague:

A man with thinning, blackish hair, an unmistakable, nimble, bird-like gait, who would disappear as fast as he had approached. He would depart with a short farewell, which would not last longer than the usual good-bye on the main station of Breslau after a weekend trip, even when it involved foreign travel, the ocean, years, and war.

Numerous textbooks and articles by other dermatologists refer to him as Freudenthal of Wroclaw.

Selected publications

Articles

"Verruca senilis und Keratoma senile"
'' Archiv für Dermatologie und Syphilis'', June 1926, Volume 152, Issue 2, pp. 505–528. * "Amyloid in der Haut." ''Archiv für Dermatologie und Syphilis'', 1930, pp. 40–94.
"Nodular Non-Diabetic Cutaneous Xanthomatosis with Hypercholesterolæmia and Atypical Histological Features"
co-authored with F. Parkes Weber, ''

Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine The ''Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine'' is a peer-reviewed medical journal. It is the flagship journal of the Royal Society of Medicine with full editorial independence. Its continuous publication history dates back to 1809. Since July 20 ...

'', 1 March 1937, .
"Sarcoid"
'' British Journal of Tuberculosis and Diseases of the Chest'', 1 January 1948, , pp. 11–16.

Book chapters

"Skin Biopsy"
in Sidney Campbell (Ed.) ''Dyke's Recent Advances in Clinical Pathology'', Blakiston, 1951.
"Pseudoxanthoma elasticum and warts and condylomata"
co-authored with Rudolph Spitzer in J. Jadassohn’s ''Handbuch der Haut- und Geschlechtskrankheiten: Nicht Entzündliche Dermatosen II'', Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg GMBH, 1969.