Friedrich Trendelenburg

Friedrich Trendelenburg (May 24, 1844 – December 15, 1924) was a German surgeon and son of the philosopher Friedrich Adolf Trendelenburg. A number of medical treatments and terminologies have been named after him. Trendelenburg was born in Berlin and studied medicine at the University of Glasgow and University of Edinburgh. He completed his studies at the Charité under Bernhard von Langenbeck, receiving his doctorate in 1866. He practiced medicin... more

Friedrich Trendelenburg (May 24, 1844 – December 15, 1924) was a German surgeon and son of the philosopher Friedrich Adolf Trendelenburg. A number of medical treatments and terminologies have been named after him. Trendelenburg was born in Berlin and studied medicine at the University of Glasgow and University of Edinburgh. He completed his studies at the Charité under Bernhard von Langenbeck, receiving his doctorate in 1866. He practiced medicine in Rostock and Bonn, and in 1895 he became surgeon-in-chief in Leipzig. He is perhaps best remembered for the Trendelenburg position in which the patient is placed on a bed which is put into incline such that the patient's head is lower than his feet. Trendelenburg first used this technique in 1881 for an abdominal surgery. He is also known for inventing Trendelenburg's cannula, a cannula used during surgery of the larynx to prevent the patient from swallowing blood during the operation. Trendelenburg was interested in the surgical removal... less