Ferdinand Adolf Kehrer

Who was Ferdinand Adolf Kehrer?

Ferdinand Adolf Kehrer was a German gynecologist who was a native of Guntersblum in Rhenish Hesse. He was the father of neurologist Ferdinand Adalbert Kehrer.

He studied medicine at the University of Giessen under Ferdinand von Ritgen, at Munich with Karl von Hecker and in Vienna under Karl von Braun-Fernwald. From 1872 to 1881, he was a "full professor" of obstetrics at the University of Giessen, where he also served as director of the Frauenklinik. In 1881 he relocated to the University of Heidelberg as chair of gynecology.

Kehrer is remembered for performing the first modern Caesarean section. It involved a transverse incision of the lower segment of the uterus, a procedure that minimizes bleeding, and is still widely used today.

On September 25, 1881, in the town of Meckesheim, he performed the first modern C-section. The patient was a 26-year old woman, and the operation proved to be a success. Prior to Kehrer's operation, Caesarean sections were seldom performed, and when they were, the mortality rate of mothers was very high. The following year, Max Sanger, introduced the practice of suturing the uterus' Caesarean wound.