Friedrich Ernst Krukenberg

Who was Friedrich Ernst Krukenberg?

Friedrich Ernst Krukenberg was a German physician who was a native of Halle an der Saale. He was a brother to orthopedic surgeon Hermann Krukenberg and Georg Heinrich Peter Krukenberg, who was a professor of gynecology at the University of Bonn.

Krukenberg originally studied in his native city of Halle, and continued his medical education at the University of Marburg, where he was a student of ophthalmologist Theodor Axenfeld. At Marburg he also studied under pathologist Felix Jacob Marchand, in whose department he described a fibrosarcoma of the ovary that was to become known as a Krukenberg tumor. In 1896 he published his findings in an article called Über das Fibrosarcoma ovarii mucocellulare.

Later, his interest turned to ophthalmology, and eventually he returned to Halle where he opened a private practice. The ophthalmic term "Krukenberg's spindle" is named after him, which is a vertical, fusiform deposition of melanin pigmentation in the deep layers of the cornea.