The Two Anomalies of Wilhelm Ebstein

Abstract

The year 2016 was the 180th anniversary of Wilhelm Ebstein's birth and the 150th anniversary of his description of the congenital tricuspid valve malformation that came to be known as Ebstein anomaly. We present a brief history of the life and work of Dr. Wilhelm Ebstein. Despite his distinguished career, he is seemingly forgotten in his own birthplace. We include a review of the relevant historical medical literature.

Keywords: Cardiology/history; Ebstein W; Ebstein anomaly/history/physiopathology; Poland; cardiovascular abnormalities; history, 19th century; history, 20th century; tricuspid valve insufficiency/etiology/pathology/surgery; tricuspid valve/abnormalities.

Fig. 1.

Photograph shows Wilhelm Ebstein, ca. 1885. (© Städtisches Museum; Göttingen, Germany)

Fig. 2.

Photograph shows the hospital in Wroclaw, Poland (then Allerheiligen Hospital in Breslau, Prussia), where Wilhelm Ebstein performed the autopsy of the patient who had a tricuspid valve anomaly. (Photograph from Magdalena Mazurak's collection.)

Fig. 3.

The title page from Ebstein's original paper. (Courtesy of BIU Santé.) Available from: http://www.biusante.parisdescartes.fr/histmed/medica/page?epo0270&p=1.