Ádám Politzer: Encyclopedia II - Ádám Politzer - Works

Ádám Politzer - Works

Politzer was a prolific inventor of new medical devices for the diagnosis and treatment of ear diseases. He developed several surgical instruments which bear his name for the operation of the outer and the inner ear structures, such as an ear perforator, a surgical knife, a grommet for the ventilation of the inner ear after paracentesis, as well as a method to restore permeability to the Eustachian tube by using an insufflator made out of a pear-shaped rubber bag ("politzerisation" or Politzer's method). He also devised methods and apparatuses to examine the outer ear canal and tympanic membrane (Politzer's otoscope), a speculum and a qualitative test for the function of the Eustachian tube. In the field of hearing, Politzer devised an acoumeter for measuring hearing acuity and at least two early acoustical hearing aids.

Furthermore, he revolutionized the clinical diagnosis of aural diseases by the inspection of the illuminated tympanic membrane (which led to the current otoscope), and developed the first illustrated atlas of the tympanic membrane in health and disease, with color drawings made by himself. Politzer also wrote one of the most outstanding and authoritative textbooks on otology of the century, the Lehrbuch der Ohrenheilkunde', in 1878.

A great anatomist of the auditory system, Politzer wrote and illustrated extensively on it, and left a remarkable collection of anatomic and pathological specimens in Vienna, which were donated to the Anatomy and Pathology Museum. The luminous cone of the tympanic membrane is named after him, as well as the Unna-Politzer naevus, a typical birthmark found on the nape of the neck in 25 to 50% of normal persons. In addition, in 1893 Politzer was the first to describe otosclerosis as a separate clinical entity. He also studied the pathology of cholesteatoma, serous otitis media, labyrinthitis, congenital deafness and intracranial complications of otitis media.

One of his biographers, Albert Mudry, stated that Politzer was "the greatest otologist of the 19th century and one of the greatest of all time (...) he covered all fields of otology". He influenced and trained thousands of otologists from over the world, and his most famous successor was Robert Barany, who received the Nobel Prize for medicine in 1914.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Works", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki