HABERER,HANS,VON - A FORGOTTEN PIONEER IN VASCULAR-SURGERY

After carrying out the first free vein graft transplantation on an ane urysm of the axillary vein by Lexer in 1907, many attempts were made t o reconstruct arterial injuries with direct vascular suture technique or vein graft transplants during the Balkan War (1912) and the First W orld War (1914-1918). Hans von Haberer gained wide experience in the r econstructive surgery of traumatic aneurysms al the Department of Surg ery al the University of Innsbruck. During this period, he operated on a total of 201 vascular aneurysms, mainly using a direct circular vas cular suture technique. In 1914, von Haberer described the first recon struction of a carotid aneurysm. First experiences with vein bypasses were made, but not pursued in the following years.