[Heinrich Braun (1862-1934)--a pioneer in anesthesiology in Germany].

Abstract

Heinrich Braun was born on January, 1, 1862. He attended school in Dresden and was a student of Medicine at the Universities of Strassburg, Greifswald and Leipzig between 1881 and 1887. In 1887 he acquired his doctorate degree. Von Volkmann was his teacher in surgery in Halle. From 1891 to 1905 he worked in different non-university hospitals in Leipzig. In 1894 he was promoted "doctor habilitatus" under Thiersch as an extern. He lectured on general and local anaesthesia as a "Privatdozent". In 1905 he was appointed extraordinary Professor at the Medical Faculty of the University of Leipzig. 1906 he left Leipzig and became Chief Surgeon and Medical Director of the Royal Saxonian Hospital in Zwickau. In this position he worked until his retirement in 1928. He died on April, 26, 1934 in Uberlingen. Heinrich Braun's contributions to the development of anaesthesiology are numerous. They concern general as well as local and regional anaesthesia. In 1901 he designed an apparatus for mixed-gas anaesthesia and reported on experiences with combined inhalational anaesthesia with ether and chloroform. In 1903 he recommended on the basis of profound experimental investigations to add adrenalin as a vasoconstrictor to local anaesthetics. In 1905 the first edition of his manual "Local Anaesthesia--Scientific Basis and Medical Practice" appeared. Braun extended the general practice of local and regional anaesthesia significantly. Famous representatives of his school are Läwen, Peuckert, Kulenkampff, Härtel and Kappis. In Zwickau he extensively dealt with problems of hospital organisation and -construction. In 1921 the new "Krankenstift Zwickau" constructed on the basis of his plans and recommendations was inaugurated.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)