Rudolf Ulrich Krönlein

Rudolf Ulrich Krönlein (February 19, 1847 - October 26, 1910) was a Swiss surgeon who was a native of Stein am Rhein. In 1872 he received his medical doctorate at Zurich, and furthered his studies in Berlin under Bernhard von Langenbeck (1810-1887). In 1874 he became director of the surgical clinic at Giessen, and in 1881 became professor of surgery at the University of Zurich. After his death, he was succeeded by Ferdinand Sauerbruch (1875-1951) as chair of surgery at Zurich.

In 1886 Krönlein published an account of an 1884 appendectomy that he performed on a 17-year old boy. Although the patient died two days after the surgery, it was the first documented case of an appendectomy. He was also a pioneer involving lung resections, and his name is associated with "Krönlein's operation", which is a lateral orbitotomy of the eye. This surgery involves removal of an orbital tumor without excision of the eye.
* Associated eponym:
* "Krönlein's hernia": An inguinoproperitoneal hernia; a hernia that is partially inguinal and partly properitoneal.

References

* "This article is based on a translation of an article from the German Wikipedia."
* [http://www.innominatesociety.com/Articles/History%20of%20Appendicitis.htm History of Appendicitis Vermiformis, Its diseases and treatment, Arthur C. McCarty, M.D.]