Friedrich von Esmarch

ESMARCH Friedrich (Friedrich von Esmarch, 1823–1908), a well-known German surgeon, a pupil of Langenbeck and later an assistant to Stromeyer, whose chair he assumed in Kiel in 1857 and held until 1899. A participant in a number of wars (1864, 1866, 1870/71), Esmarch devoted enormous attention in his work to military field surgery, delivering a number of communications on the subject of the rational treatment of gunshot fractures of the limbs and joint injuries, proving himself in this matter a proponent of a more conservative approach. He published a major work in which, based on vast military material, he proved the superiority of resections and arthrotomy after gunshot wounds over amputations, both in terms of preserving working capacity and in terms of immediate results (reduction in mortality).

World recognition was brought to Esmarch by his 1928—wait, 1873 proposal to operate on limbs rendered bloodless with the aid of a tourniquet (see Esmarch's bloodless method). Esmarch devoted many works to the organization of assistance to the wounded in war. Esmarch took a great part in engaging the civilian population to help the wounded in war by organizing special courses (Samariterkurse), publishing brochures and popular manuals for this purpose. Esmarch was one of the founders of the German Society of Surgeons, its honorary member, and chairman of the Congress of German Surgeons in 1894.