Moritz Kaposi

Moritz Kaposi

Moritz Kaposi (Hungarian: Kaposi Mór) (born 23 October 1837 in Kaposvár, Hungary - 6 March 1902 in Vienna, Austria) was a Hungarian physician and dermatologist who discovered the skin tumor that received his name (Kaposi's sarcoma).

Contents

Biography

Early life and name

Born to a Jewish family, originally his surname was Kohn; but, with his conversion to the Catholic faith, he changed it to Kaposi in 1871, in reference to his town of birth. One purported reason behind this is that he wanted to marry a daughter of current dermatology chairman, Ferdinand Ritter von Hebra, and advance in the society, which he could not have done being of Jewish faith. This seems unlikely because he married Martha Hebra and converted to Catholicism several years prior to changing his name, by which time he was already well-established in the Vienna University faculty and a close associate of von Hebra. A more plausible explanation is based on his own comments to colleagues that he changed his name to avoid confusion with five other similarly named physicians on the Vienna faculty. Rumors about the sincerity of both his marriage and his concerns about his Jewish ancestry may have arisen through professional jealousy (William Dubreuilh (1857–1935), first professor and chairman of dermatology in Bordeaux: "On disait de Kaposi qu´il avait pris la fille de Hebra, sa maison, sa chaire et sa clientèle, laissant le reste à son beau-frère Hans Hebra.")

Education and career

In 1855, Kaposi began to study medicine at the University of Vienna and attained a doctorate in 1861. In his dissertation, titled Dermatologie und Syphilis (1866) he made an important contribution to the field. Kaposi was appointed as professor at the University of Vienna in 1875, and in 1881 he became member of the board of the Vienna General Hospital and director of its clinic of skin diseases.

Together with his mentor, Ferdinand Ritter von Hebra, he authored the book Lehrbuch der Hautkrankheiten (Textbook of Skin Diseases) in 1878. Kaposi’s main work, however, was Pathologie und Therapie der Hautkrankheiten in Vorlesungen für praktische Ärzte und Studierende (Pathology and Therapy of the Skin Diseases in Lectures for Practical Physicians and Students), published in 1880, which became one of the most significant books in the history of dermatology, being translated to several languages. He is credited with the description of xeroderma pigmentosum, a rare genetic disorder now known to be caused by defects in nucleotide excision repair ("Ueber Xeroderma pigmentosum. Medizinische Jahrbücher, Wien, 1882: 619-633"). Among other diseases, Kaposi was the first to study Lichen scrofolosorum and Lupus erythematosus. In all, he published over 150 books and papers. He is widely credited with advancing the use of pathologic examination in the diagnosis of dermatologic diseases.

Kaposi's sarcoma

His name entered into the history of medicine in 1872, when he described for the first time Kaposi's sarcoma, a cancer of the skin, which he had discovered in five elderly male patients and which he initially named "idiopathic multiple pigmented sarcoma". More than a century later, the appearance of this disease in young gay men in New York, San Francisco and other coastal cities in the United States was one of the first indications that a new disease, now called AIDS, had appeared. Kaposi's sarcoma is a tumor that is caused by a virus, Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus or KSHV, discovered in 1993. Kaposi's sarcoma is now the most commonly reported cancer in parts of sub-Saharan Africa.

According to his biographer, Dr. J.D. Oriel, "in his lifetime, Moritz Kaposi was acknowledged as one of the great masters of the Vienna School of Dermatology, a superb clinician and renowned teacher". While his mentor, Ferdinand von Hebra, is considered the "father of dermatology", Kaposi was one of the first to establish dermatology on its anatomical pathology scientific basis. He became the chairman after Hebra's death in 1880.

Works

  • Lehrbuch der Hautkrankheiten (1878 with Ferdinand von Hebra)
  • Pathologie und Therapie der Hautkrankheiten in Vorlesungen für praktische Ärzte und Studierende (1880)
  • Pathologie und Therapie der Syphilis (1881)
  • Handatlas der Hautkrankenheiten (1879)
  • Idiopathisches multiples Pigmentsarkom der Haut (1872) Arch Dermatol Syph 4:265-73 (original article describing Kaposi's sarcoma)
  • English translation of article describing Kaposi's sarcoma: Kaposi M. Idiopathic multiple pigmented sarcoma of the skin. CA Cancer J Clin 1982;1982(32):342-7.

Bibliography

  • Oriel JD. Moritz Kaposi (1837–1902). Int J STD AIDS. 1997 Nov;8(11):715-7. Medline abstract
  • Holubar K and Fatovic-Ferencic S. Moriz Kaposi 1837-1902: a historical reappraisal [1]

External links


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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Moritz Kaposi — (nacido el 23 de octubre 1837 en Kaposvár, Hungría 6 de marzo 1902 en Viena, Austria) fue un importante médico húngaro y dermatólogo, descubridor del tumor de piel que lleva su nombre (Sarcoma de Kaposi). Nacido en una familia judia , su apellido …   Wikipedia Español

  • Moritz Kaposi — La forme de ce nom en hongrois est Kaposi Mór. Dans cet article, le prénom est placé en tête comme il est d usage dans les langues occidentales. Moritz Kaposi (en hongrois : Kaposi Mór) (né le 23 octobre 1837 à Kaposvár en… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Moritz Kaposi — Moriz Kaposi Moritz Kaposi [ˈkɒpoʃi] (* 23. Oktober 1837 in Kaposvár, Ungarn; † 6. März 1902 in Wien) war ein ungarisch österreichischer Mediziner …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Kaposi — steht für: Kaposi Sarkom, vor allem im Zusammenhang mit AIDS auftretende Krebserkrankung Personen: Moritz Kaposi (1837–1902), ungarisch österreichischer Mediziner Diese Seite ist eine Begriffsklärung zur Unt …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Kaposi's sarcoma — Caption = Intraoral Kaposi’s sarcoma lesion with an overlying candidiasis infection. OMIM = 148000 MedlinePlus = 000661 eMedicineSubj = med eMedicineTopic = 1218 eMedicine mult = eMedicine2|derm|203 eMedicine2|oph|481 DiseasesDB = 7105 MeshID =… …   Wikipedia

  • Kaposi-Sarkom — Ka|po|si|sar|kom auch: Ka|po|si Sar|kom 〈n. 11; unz.; Med.〉 Sarkom, das durch rote, von Blutungen durchsetzte Knoten gekennzeichnet ist, tritt als Folge der AIDS Erkrankung auf [nach dem ung. Arzt Moritz Kaposi, 1837 1902] * * * Kaposi Sarkom  … …   Universal-Lexikon

  • Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus — Taxobox virus group = I familia = Herpesviridae subfamilia = Gammaherpesvirinae genus = Rhadinovirus species = Human herpesvirus 8 Kaposi s sarcoma associated herpesvirus (KSHV) is the eighth human herpesvirus; its formal name according to the… …   Wikipedia

  • Kaposi-Sarkom — Klassifikation nach ICD 10 C46 Kaposi Sarkom [Sarcoma idiopathicum multiplex haemorrhagicum] ICD O M9140/3 …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Kaposi sarcoma — Usually lethal cancer appearing as red purple or blue brown spots on the skin and other organs. It has been linked to one of the herpes viruses, and there is considerable debate about how it should be classified. When described in 1872 by Moritz… …   Universalium

  • Kaposi sarcoma varicelliform eruption — Ka·po·si sarcoma, varicelliform eruption (kahґpo she) (kapґo se) (kə poґse) [Moritz Kaposi (Moritz Kaposi Kohn), Austrian dermatologist, 1837–1902] see under eruption and sarcoma …   Medical dictionary

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