Ernst Wertheim

Who was Ernst Wertheim?

Ernst Wertheim was an Austrian gynecologist born in Graz.

In 1888 he received his doctorate from the University of Graz, and subsequently became an assistant in the department of general and experimental pathology. In 1889 he worked under Otto Kahler at the second university clinic in Vienna, followed by an assignment at the second Vienna women's clinic under Rudolf Chrobak. He then relocated to Prague as an assistant to Friedrich Schauta at the university women’s clinic. In 1892 he obtained his habilitation for gynecology and obstetrics in Vienna.

In 1897 he became chief surgeon in the gynecological department at Bettina Pavilions der Elisabeth-Klinik, and in 1910 he became director of the first Vienna women's clinic. He was the son of chemist Theodor Wertheim, remembered for his chemical studies of garlic.

In 1898, Wertheim performed the first radical abdominal hysterectomy for cervical cancer. This operation involved removal of the uterus, parametrium, tissues surrounding the upper vagina, and pelvic lymph nodes. Afterwards, Wertheim surgery became a fairly common, although risky procedure for cervical cancer. He conducted important research of gonorrhea in the female genital tract, and was the first physician to demonstrate the presence of gonococcus in the peritoneum. Also, he discovered that gonococcus grows best on a culture of agar mixed with human blood serum.