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Emil Zuckerkandl (1849–1910): Anatomist and pathologist

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Summary

Emil Zuckerkandl (1849–1910), an Austrian anatomist and pathologist, is remembered with several eponyms; organ of Zuckerkandl (para-aortic chromaffin body), Zuckerkandl's fascia (posterior layer of the renal fascia), Zuckerkandl's gyrus (subcallosal area), Zuckerkandl's tuberculum (lateral projection of the thyroid gland), Zuckerkandl's operation (perineal prostatectomy), Zuckerkandl's dehiscence (fissures in the ethmoid bone), and concha of Zuckerkandl (a rare nasal concha). He was a favorite pupil of both Josef Hyrtl (1810–1894) and Carl von Langer (1819–1887) at the Vienna School of Anatomy, and succeeded the chair of anatomy there. Zuckerkandl strove to make anatomy “subservient” to the patient and thus was an early pioneer of clinical anatomy. He was prolific and wrote over 164 publications at the time of his death. His wife, Berta Zuckerkandl-Szeps, was a famous Austrian journalist and a remarkable personality of Jewish society in Vienna during the last decades of the Austro-Hungarian Empire until World War II. Emil Zuckerkandl left a tremendous legacy regarding anatomical knowledge. This early anatomist was credited with the comment that “anatomy is the war map for the operations of the physician”. This concept gave rise to many surgical subspecialities and his anatomical descriptions serve as a basis of our current morphological understanding.

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  • Cited by (21)

    • Eponyms: A historical pathway to safe thyroidectomy

      2023, Operative Techniques in Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery
      Citation Excerpt :

      He studied medicine at the University of Vienna, graduating in 1874. During that time, he became a favorite student of Joseph Hyrtl at the Vienna School of Anatomy, which was considered one of the world's most eminent anatomy centers.34 He worked briefly in Amsterdam at the University of Utrecht as a prosecutor before returning to Vienna, where after a series of promotions, he ultimately succeeded Hyrtl in becoming the chair of Anatomy in 1888.34

    • Anatomic Eponyms in Neuroradiology: Head and Neck

      2016, Academic Radiology
      Citation Excerpt :

      Zuckerkandl described the posterolateral thyroid tubercle that bears his name in 1902 (148), and his name is also associated with the para-aortic chromaffin body (organ of Zuckerkandl) and the posterior layer of renal fascia (Zuckerkandl's fascia) (147). Zuckerkandl's brother, Otto, was a well-known urologist who served as the president of the Second and Third Congresses of the German Society of Urology (149), and Emil's wife, Berta Szeps, was a famous Austrian journalist, who also happened to be the daughter of the editor-in-chief of the Austrian newspaper Morgenpost and the sister-in-law of French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau (147). The Zuckerkandl home served as a gathering place for such famous figures as painter Gustav Klimt (147,149), sculptor Auguste Rodin, and architect Otto Wagner (147).

    • Zuckerkandl tubercle in thyroid surgery: Is it a reality or a myth?

      2016, Annals of Medicine and Surgery
      Citation Excerpt :

      They suggested that, it may be a useful landmark to find and protect the RLN during thyroid surgery but others do not agree [7]. Additionally, some authors were reported that leaving ZT in the operation field may cause an insufficient surgery [3–6]. The primary objective of the present study was to find out the incidence of ZT in our thyroidectomies and our secondary objective was to investigate whether the ZT has a relationship with RLN.

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