Hermann Johannes Pfannenstiel

Hermann Johannes Pfannenstiel (June 28, 1862 - July 3, 1909) was a German gynecologist who was a native of Berlin. He studied medicine in Berlin and received his doctorate in 1885. Afterwards he practiced gynecology in Posen, Breslau, Giessen (1902) and Kiel (1907). From 1891 he was secretary of the German Society for Gynaecology (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gynäkologie).

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Pfannenstiel was a prolific writer regarding genitourinary pathology and gynecological diseases, and beginning in 1896 he was co-editor of the Archives of Gynaecology (Archiv für Gynäkologie). In 1908 he was the first physician to give a comprehensive description of familial icterus gravis neonatorum.

Pfannenstiel is best remembered for the eponymous Pfannenstiel's incision, which is a transverse incision used in genitourinary surgery that is still widely used today. Pfannenstiel died on July 3, 1909 at the age of 47 from an infection he received during surgery.

References

• A biography Hermann Johannes Pfannenstiel (National Library of Medicine)
• Diagram of Pfannenstiel's incision
• Biographies in Gynaecology