Otfrid Foerster (9 November 1873 in Breslau, Silesia – 15 June 1941, also in Breslau) was a German neurologist and neurosurgeon, who made innovative contributions to neurology and neurosurgery, such as rhizotomy for the treatment of spasticity, anterolateral cordotomy for pain, the hyperventilation test for epilepsy, Foerster's syndrome, the first electrocorticogram of a brain tumor, and the first surgeries for epilepsy. He is also known as the f...
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Otfrid Foerster (9 November 1873 in Breslau, Silesia – 15 June 1941, also in Breslau) was a German neurologist and neurosurgeon, who made innovative contributions to neurology and neurosurgery, such as rhizotomy for the treatment of spasticity, anterolateral cordotomy for pain, the hyperventilation test for epilepsy, Foerster's syndrome, the first electrocorticogram of a brain tumor, and the first surgeries for epilepsy. He is also known as the first to describe the dermatomes (an area of skin that is supplied by a single pair of dorsal nerve roots), and he helped map the motor cortex of the cerebrum .
Foerster was born in Breslau, and studied in the Maria Magdalenen Gymnasium, graduating 1892. From 1892 to 1896 he studied medicine in Freiburg, Kiel and Breslau, obtaining his licensure by state examination in 1897 and his doctorate in the same year. Upon completion of the doctoral studies, he spent two years studying abroad, following a suggestion by Karl Wernicke (1848-1905): in the...
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