Adolf Gusserow

Who was Adolf Gusserow?

Adolf Ludwig Sigismund Gusserow was a German gynecologist who was a native of Berlin. He married Clara Oppenheim, a descendant of Berlin banker Joseph Mendelssohn.

Gusserow began his career as a lecturer of gynecological diseases and obstetrics in Berlin, and subsequently practiced medicine in Utrecht, Zurich and Strasbourg. Later he returned to Berlin as director of the clinic of obstetrics and gynecology at the Berlin-Charité. Two of his better-known students and assistants were Alfred Dührssen in Berlin, and Paul Zweifel in Zurich.

In 1870 Gusserow was the first physician to describe a rare type of uterine cervical adenocarcinoma that is sometimes referred to as "adenoma malignum" or as a mucinous type of "minimal deviation adenocarcinoma". It can be recognized by its "deceptively bland" histological appearance. Gusserow published his findings in a treatise titled Ueber Sarcoma des Uterus.

Among his better written efforts was Die Neubildungen des Uterus.