Georg Perthes

PERTHES, Georg (1869–1927), an outstanding German surgeon. After graduating from the medical faculty in 1892, he was an assistant at the surgical clinic of Trendelenburg, first in Bonn, later in Leipzig. In 1895, Perthes received his privatdozent status by presenting a paper on the aspiration treatment of empyema. Participating in the China campaign of 1900–1901 and managing a field hospital, he continued to conduct scientific work, contributing, among other things, to the clarification of the etiology of noma. In 1903, he was appointed professor and director of the Leipzig Polyclinic. Perthes is one of the founders of deep X-ray therapy for surgical diseases. He summarized his many years of work in this field at the Congress of German Surgeons in 1921 and at the Heidelberg Cancer Conference in 1923. Perthes' special merits in maxillofacial surgery (monograph: "Verletzungen und Krankheiten der Kiefer", Deutsche Chirurgie, Lieferung 33a, Stuttgart, 1907) received official recognition in 1923 with the awarding of the title Dr. dent. honoris causa. In 1909, Perthes, independently of other authors and more accurately, described the disease named after him (see Perthes' disease). From 1910, Perthes was the successor to Bruns in the management of the Tübingen clinic. From 1911, he was the successor to F. König on the editorial board of "Centralblatt für Chirurgie". The World War provided Perthes with a wealth of material, which was developed in numerous printed works. Among them, the summaries on gunshot wounds of peripheral nerves stand out (in "Handbuch der ärztlichen Erfahrungen im Weltkriege", herausgegeben v. O. Schjerning, B. II, T. 2, Leipzig, 1922). Perthes enriched the surgery of the extremities with a multitude of new operative techniques, for example, modeling osteotomy for flatfoot, arc-shaped osteotomy for varus and valgus deformities, plastic reconstruction of the thumb using the cruciate ligament, muscle plasty for paralysis of the m. cucullaris, and tendon plasty for irreparable radial nerve paralysis (see Bruns Beiträge, 1918). Participants of the congresses of German surgeons remember Perthes' reports, which were exemplary in the clarity of their analysis and the richness of their content. A classic example is his 1925 report on ileus, based on 203 of his own cases. His last appearance at the congress in 1926 had as its topic a method of rhinoplasty using a visor flap. The struggle with severe heart attacks aroused Perthes' interest in the problem of death. He set forth his thoughts on this matter in a small study, which is fascinating in both form and content.