Centenary of the first trans-sphenoidal surgery of the hypophysis (Hermann Schloffer 1907) and its echoes within Croatian neurosurgical practice.
In this paper we aim to reminisce the role of the Austrian surgeon Hermann Schloffer (1868-1937) as the pioneer of a trans-sphenoidal approach to the pituitary gland. On the 16th of March 1907 he operated a patient with pituitary tumor and published his report in the Wiener Klinische Wochenschrift on 23rd May 1907. This paper is to recall the 100th anniversary of this event. Schloffer's method was spread and modified worldwide, Croatia included, a country in which the interest in trans-sphenoidal approach to pituitary tumors has not diminished or been lost, but slowly modified. Today, almost a whole century after its introduction, it is still used to operate about 95% of sellar region tumors.
Fatović-Ferencić
Stella
S
Division for the History of Medical Sciences, Department for the History and Philosophy of Sciences, Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Sisters of Mercy University Hospital, Zagreb, Croatia. stella@hazu.hr
Gnjidić
Zivko
Z
D017523:Croatia; D004724:Endoscopy / Q000266:history*; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D007016:Hypophysectomy / Q000266:history*; D013100:Sphenoid Bone / Q000601:surgery*