Friedrich Stelzner

Friedrich Stelzner (4 November 1921 – 5 June 2020) was a German academic surgeon, scientist and educator with specialization in gastrointestinal surgery. He served consecutively as Professor and Chairman of three university departments and was inducted as President of the German Society for Surgery in 1985. Stelzner contributed more than 80 books and book chapters to the literature and authored over 450 publications and presentations. Throughout his scientific career, Stelzner investigated questions of functional anatomy and its impact on surgical operative methods.

Childhood and education Friedrich Stelzner was born in Františkovy Lázně, Sudetenland, Czechoslovakia, on 4 November 1921, the only son of the railway official Georg Stelzner (1889–1959) and his wife Helene Brandner (1895–1969). Stelzner's mother Helene came from the nearby town of Cheb, where her father was a master craftsman.

Friedrich Stelzner spent the first years of his life in Františkovy Lázně and attended secondary school in Cheb. Subsequently, he attended medical school in Berlin, Würzburg, Giessen and Munich and graduated Summa cum laude in 1945. Stelzner soon after began his surgical residency at the University of Erlangen, where he was boarded in General Surgery in 1949. Three years later, he was appointed as a Private docent based on a thesis that focused on the radical removal of rectal cancer with preservation of anal continence function. For this monograph, Stelzner was awarded the Langenbeck prize, the highest scientific award of the German Society for Surgery in 1960. In collaboration with the anatomist Jochen Staubesand, Stelzner investigated the exact structure of the hemorrhoidal vessels. He demonstrated that hemorrhoids are not enlarged venous structures, but rather arteriovenous cushions for which he coined the term corpus cavernosum recti. These cushions have great importance for the anal continence. Stelzner also developed the concept of anorectal continence organ. He pointed out that this organ shows significant differences in males and females. This has bearing on the details and the outcome of anorectal surgical procedures. Further studies revealed the spiral structure of the esophageal wall muscles. Stelzner worked with the anatomist Werner Lierse in these studies and made use of translucent muscular preparations and serial sections of esophagi, which were processed in situ. Knowledge of the exact structure of the muscular wall of the esophagus forms the basis of surgical procedures for treatment of achalasia and gastroesophageal reflux disease.

1967–1987: Professor and Chairman of Surgery In 1967, Stelzner was offered to head the surgical department of the University of Tübingen. However, around the same time, the chair position in Hamburg became vacant and was offered to him as well. Stelzner accepted the latter position and was appointed as professor and chairman at the University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf in 1968.

Awards and honors Langenbeck prize, the highest scientific award of the German Society for Surgery (1960) Honorary doctorate of the University of Seoul (1983) President of the German Society for Surgery (1985) Honorary doctorate of LMU Munich (1987) Member of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina (1987) Officer's Cross, Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (1993) Ernst Jung Gold Medal for Medicine (1997, Ernst Jung Foundation)

Books (selection) The radical resection of rectal cancer with preservation of anorectal continence. Erlangen (Habilitation) (1952) The anorectal fistulas. Springer, 3rd Edition, Berlin 1981. Proctology. Henning Hansen. Second Edition. Springer, Berlin 1987. Perianal fistulas. with Henning Hansen. Urban and Vogel, Munich 2011.

Autobiography Waves and breakers in the life of a surgeon. (in German), Ecomed, Heidelberg 1998.