Carl Braun (obstetrician)

Infobox Scientist
name = Carl Braun (obstetrician)
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caption = Carl Ritter von Fernwald Braun, approx 1880
birth_date = 22 March 1822
birth_place = Zistersdorf, Niederösterreich, Austria
death_date = 28 March 1891
death_place = Wien, Austria
residence =
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nationality = Austrian, Austro-Hungarian
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field = Obstetrics
work_institutions = Vienna General Hospital
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Carl Braun (1822 – 1891), sometimes Carl Rudolf Braun [http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/8179918] alternative spelling: Karl Braun [for example in Bedenek 1983:107, in Swedish bibl. reference and Karl (with K and not C) also in Austrian bibl ref] , or Karl von Braun-Fernwald, name after knighthood Carl Ritter von Fernwald Braun [or Carl Rudolf Braun, Ritter von Fernwald] was an Austrian obstetrician. He was born 22 March 1822 in Zistersdorf, Austria as son of the medical doctor Carl August Braun.

Career

Carl Braun studied in Vienna from 1841 and took in 1847 the position of "Sekundararzt" (secondary-doctor?) in the Vienna General Hospital. In 1849 he succeeded Ignaz Semmelweis as assistant to professor Johann Klein at the hospital's first materny clinic, a position he held until 1853.

In 1853, Braun became Privatdozent, he was appointed ordinary professor of obstetrics in Trient and vice-director of the Tiroler Landes-Gebär- und Findelanstalt. In November 1856 he was called to Wien to succeed Johann Klein as professor of obstetrics. On Braun's recommendation, the hospital's first gynaecology clinic was created in 1858, under his direction. [This section almost entirely from "Biographisches Lexikon ..."] He is credited for establishing gynaecology as an independent field of study [Encyclopedia of Austria. http://aeiou.iicm.tugraz.at/aeiou.encyclop.b/b717161.htm;internal&action=_setlanguage.action?LANGUAGE=en, retrieved 28 August 2008]

In 1867-1871 he was dean of the medical faculty, and in the academical year 1868/69 also rector of the University of Vienna. He was knighted in 1872 (cf. the title Ritter) and was in 1877 entitled Hofrat, a title reserved for very eminent professors. [This section almost entirely from "Biographisches Lexikon ..."]

His name is associated with an indication of pregnancy called the "Braun-Fernwald sign" [* [http://books.google.com/books?id=f70MZLHwvp0C&pg=PA147&lpg=PA147&dq=%22Fernwald+sign%22&source=web&ots=xq7W1GykaH&sig=g5rog-htgui2qV-zlf7yhsUiaGk&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=5&ct=result A Dictionary of the History of Medicine, Definition of eponym] ] . This sign is described as an asymmetrical enlargement and softening of the uterine fundus at the site of implantation at 4-5 weeks.

Views on puerperal fever

Braun was conviced that puerperal fever was caused by miasms and "unfavourable atmospheric-cosmic-terrestrial influences". Braun was consistently hostile to Ignaz Semmelweis; he was not conscientious in using the prophylactic measures necessary to prevent childbed fever, and he did not accept Semmelweis's etiological characterization of the disease [Carter 1983] .

In a textbook, Braun identified 30 causes of childbed fever; only the 28th of these was cadaverous infection. Other postulated causes included conception and pregnancy, uremia, pressure exerted on adjacent organs by the shrinking uterus, emotional traumata, mistakes in diet, chilling, and atmospheric epidemic influences. Carl Braun's thirty causes appear in his Lehrbuch der Geburtshülfe (Vienna: Braumüller, 1857), p. 914. In the first of these, published in 1855, he mentions Semmelweis in connection with his discussion of cause number 28, cadaverous poisoning. In the later version, however, although he discusses the same cause in the same terms, all references to Semmelweis have been dropped. [ (Note by translator Carter in footnote 105 p34 in Semmelweis (1861) ] The impact of Braun's views are clearly visible in the rising mortality rates in the 1850s.

One of Braun's students, August Theodor Stamm, presented papers arguing that improved ventilation, rather than the use of chlorine washings, was responsible for the reduced incidence of puerperal fever at the maternity clinic. [Citation
last = Stamm
first = August Theodor
author-link =
last2 =
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title = Ueber die Vernichtungsmöglichkeit des epidemischen Puerperalfiebers
journal = Wiener medizinische-Halle
volume = 5
issue =
pages =
date =
year = 1864
url =
doi =
id = The essay appears in short segments between pages 157 and 477. Quoted in Carter 2005:86,94] Braun himself published papers showing that proper ventilation was the most efficient preventive measure against puerperal fever, e.g. [ Citation | last = Braun
first = Carl
author-link =
last2 =
first2 =
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title = Über Luftwechsel und Puerperalkrankheiten
journal = Wiener medizinische Wochenschaft
volume = 14
issue =
pages = cols. 257-259
date =
year =
url =
doi =
id = Quoted in Carter 2005:86,94] and [Citation
last = Braun
first = Carl
author-link =
last2 =
first2 =
author2-link =
title = Über Luftwechsel, den neuen Ventilations-Bau mit Benützung der natürlichen Temperaturdifferenzen und Luftströmung
journal = Medizinische Jahrbücher
volume = 20
issue =
pages = 165-208
date =
year = 1864
url =
doi =
id = Quoted in Carter 2005:86,94] Braun successfully pursuaded the authorities in Vienna to install an expensive new ventilation system in the maternity clinic. [Carter 2005:86]

Works

* "Klinik der Geburtshilfe und Gynäkologie" (im Verein mit Chiari und Spaeth, Erlangen 1855) ( [The] Maternity and Gynaecology Clinik, together with Chiari and Spaeth, Erlangen 1855)
* "Lehrbuch der Geburtshilfe mit Berücksichtigung der Puerperalprocesse und der Operationstechnik" (Wien 1857) (Textbook of obstetrics [also] concerning the puerperal process and surgical technique). Google book search http://books.google.com/books?id=3OOCGAAACAAJ.
* "Lehrbuch der gesammten Gynäkologie" (2. Aufl., Ib. 1881) (Textbook of Gynaecology, 2nd ed. 1881) [ref "Biographisches Lexikon ..."] . WorldCat entry: http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/8179918
* "Über 12 Fälle von Kaiserschnitt und Hysterectomie bei engem Becken (mit achtmaligem günstigem Ausgang)" (On 12 cases of caesarean section and hysterectomy with narrow pelvis (with eight successful outcomes))

References

* p92 footnote 15

* cite book
last = Carter | first = K. Codell
coauthors = Barbara R. Carter
title = Childbed fever. A scientific biography of Ignaz Semmelweis
publisher = Transaction Publishers
date = February 1, 2005
isbn = 978-1412804677

* " [http://www.zeno.org/Pagel-1901/A/Braun,+Carl+Ritter+von+Fernwald Braun, Carl Ritter von Fernwald.] " Pagel: Biographisches Lexikon hervorragender Ärzte des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts. Berlin, Wien 1901, Sp. 229-231. (in German)

* Corroborated by source provided in Swedish wiki "Nordisk familjebok, 1904–1926" http://runeberg.org/nfbd/0035.html (in Swedish)

* cite book
last = Benedek
first = István
authorlink =
title = Semmelweis Krankheit
publisher = Akadémiai Kiadó (Translated from Hungarian to German by Alfred Falway)
date = 1983
location = Budapest, Hungary
pages =
url =
doi =
id =
isbn = 963 05 3428 2

* Österreich-Lexikon http://aeiou.iicm.tugraz.at/aeiou.encyclop.b/b717161.htm, retrieved 28 Aug 2008,