Ernst Ferdinand Sauerbruch: Rise and fall of the pioneer of thoracic surgery

Ferdinand Sauerbruch (1875-1951) was a pioneer of thoracic and cardiac surg ery and is undoubtedly one of the twentieth century's most outstanding surg eons. Before 1904 operations on the thorax met with fatal complications due to pneumothorax. Sauerbruch developed a pressure-differential chamber that maintained normal respiration and enabled safe operations to be undertaken on the thorax. Together with von Mikulicz, he initiated intrathoracic oper ations and later developed various surgical procedures on the mediastinum, lungs, pericardium, heart, and esophagus. The simple yet effective techniqu es of positive-pressure ventilation replaced the expensive, cumbersome nega tive-pressure chamber. Sauerbruch's latter years were marred by dementia th at adversely affected his personality, intellect, and capacity as a surgeon . The unjustifiable toll of increasing patient morbidity and mortality forc ed authorities to dismiss him in 1949. He died at the age of 76 in Berlin. After almost a century since the advent of the first safe thoracic surgery, the advances in technique and technology have been enormous. A great deal is owed to the inspiration and contributions of Ferdinand Sauerbruch.