When was Rudolph Nissen born and where did he grow up?
Rudolph Nissen was born on the 5th of September 1896 in Neisse, Silesia. He grew up in a Jewish-German family where his father Franz worked as a well-known surgeon.
Questions about Rudolph Nissen
Short answers, pulled from the story.
Why did Rudolph Nissen leave Germany and move to Turkey?
The political landscape shifted violently in 1933 when Hitler rose to power and forced him to leave Germany due to anti-Jewish legislation. Nissen became the surgery department head at Istanbul University despite being an active World War I front soldier who initially escaped direct persecution.
What major surgical procedure did Rudolph Nissen perform successfully for the first time in Western medicine?
In 1931 Nissen treated a twelve-year-old girl suffering from chronic pus production in her left lung by performing a left pneumonectomy which meant removing the entire organ. This child survived for several years making Nissen the first Western physician to complete such a procedure successfully.
How did Rudolph Nissen treat Albert Einstein's abdominal aortic aneurysm in 1948?
Beginning in 1943 doctors used cellophane reinforcement to induce fibrosis in the vessel wall so Nissen wrapped the aneurysm with cellophane to decrease rupture risk. Einstein recovered from the surgery and lived for several more years after the procedure.
When was the Nissen fundoplication operation developed and what condition does it treat?
By 1955 Nissen began thinking about that successful Istanbul procedure while based in Basel and operated on two patients with reflux esophagitis using the same wrapping method. He published results of these cases in 1956 establishing what became known as the Nissen fundoplication.
Where and when did Rudolph Nissen die and what legacy honors remain today?
He died on the 22nd of January 1981 in Riehen near Basel. The Charité hospital opened a new building for emergency admissions named after him in 2016 called Rudolf-Nissen-Haus to commemorate his legacy.