Carl Gussenbauer

Carl Gussenbauer (October 30, 1842 - June 19, 1903) was an Austrian surgeon who was a native of Obervellach. He received his medical doctorate from the University of Vienna in 1867, and was later a professor in Liège, Prague and Vienna. After graduation he was an assistant to Theodor Billroth in Vienna, and in 1894 returned to Vienna and succeeded Billroth as director of the second surgical university clinic.

Gussenbauer was a pioneer concerning modern pancreatic surgery. In 1882 he performed the first successful operation of a pancreatic cyst via the external drainage technique that he developed. Prior to Gussenbauer's method, attempts at pancreatic surgery yielded negative results. Gussenbauer's external drainage procedure represented the first safe and effective solution for pancreatic cysts, and was widely used until the 1950s.

Following Billroth's first successful laryngectomy on December 31, 1873, Gussenbauer created an external vocal prosthesis (artificial larynx) for the patient. It was a mechanism with a vibrating reed that was inserted into a fistula from a tracheostomy tube to the pharynx. It was reported that the patient spoke with an intelligible voice.

Principal works

* "Die traumatischen Verletzungen" (1880)
* "Sephthämie, Pyohamie, und Pyo-Sephthämie" (1882)
* "Beitrag zur Extirpation von Beckenknochengeschwülsten" (1891)

Associated eponyms:

* "Gussenbauer's suture": A figure-of-8 suture used in bowel surgery.
* "Gussenbauer's clamp": A bar of metal for joining the fragments in ununited fracture. Dorland's Medical Dictionary (1938)
* "Gussenbauer's operation": The cutting of an esophageal stricture through an opening above the stricture. Dorland's Medical Dictionary (1938)

References

* [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=12732989&dopt=Abstract Carl Gussenbauer: pioneer in pancreatic surgery.]
* [http://www.ajronline.org/cgi/reprint/143/4/745.pdf Essay on Voice Prosthesis]
* [http://www.utmb.edu/otoref/grnds/vocrehab.htm Voice Rehabilitation After Laryngectomy]