Otto Lubarsch

Otto Lubarsch (January 4, 1860 - 1933) was a German pathologist who was a native of Berlin. He originally studied philosophy and natural sciences in Leipzig and Heidelberg, and later earned his medical degree in Strasbourg in 1883. Subsequently he was an assistant to Hugo Kronecker (1839-1914) at the Institute of Physiology in Bern, and afterwards an assistant at the pathological institutes of Giessen, Breslau and Zurich. In 1894 he became a professor of anatomy and pathology in Rostock, and in 1905 he became director of the institute of pathology and bacteriology at Zwickau. Later he practiced medicine in Dusseldorf (1907), Kiel (1913), and Berlin (1917-1929).

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In 1888 Lubarsch gave the first pathological description of carcinoid tumors during autopsies of two male "patients". However it wouldn't be until 1907 that the true nature of the tumors were identified by Siegfried Oberndorfer (1876-1944). Lubarsch also discovered tiny crystals in the epithelial cells of the testis that resemble sperm crystals. These structures are now known as Lubarsch' crystals.

With Friedrich Henke (1868-1943), Lubarsch was editor of the Henke-Lubarsch Handbuch der Speziellen Pathologischen Anatomie und Histologie, which was a massive reference book containing information germane to pathology. It was founded in 1924, and produced over a forty year span. After World War II, it was continued and edited by Robert Rössle (1876-1956). Also with veterinarian Robert von Ostertag (1864-1940) he collaborated on the journal Ergebnisse der allgemeinen Pathologie und pathologischen Anatomie der Menschen und der Tiere.

• Associated eponym:
• Lubarsch-Pick syndrome: A combination of systematized amyloidosis with macroglossia. Named in conjunction with pathologist Ludwig Pick (1868-1944).

References

• Who Named It?, Otto Lubarsch
• Gastrointestinal Neuroendocrine Tumors