Wilhelm Ebstein and Ebstein's malformation

In 1866, Wilhelm Ebstein published a scholarly description of a tricuspid v alve anomaly with dilation of the right atrium and patent foramen ovale tha t bears his name. However, his original report was almost overlooked. Despi te a wide range of publications on the history of cardiac pathology and car diac surgery, the international literature provides only scarce information regarding the personality of Wilhelm Ebstein and his original description of the anomaly that bears his name. In this article, we present biographica l data of Wilhelm Ebstein and discuss how his original description of autop sy findings correlates with our current knowledge of this congenital disord er. It is the excellent correlation of Ebstein's pathologic findings with c linical notes of his colleague and Ebstein's hypotheses of the pathophysiol ogy that made his publication a landmark in the description of a new entity . In addition, Ebstein's report provided a strong basis for the development of repair techniques for this rare anomaly 100 years later. (C) 2001 Elsev ier Science B.V. All rights reserved.