The Birth of Pancreatic Surgery: A Tribute to Friedrich Wilhelm Wandesleben

摘要

Friedrich Wilhelm Wandesleben (1800–1868), a small-town German physician, performed surgical drainage of a traumatic pancreatic pseudocyst in November 1841. This operation should be acknowledged as the world’s first reported operation on the human pancreas. The surgeon, the operation, and its implications for future pancreatic operations are the subjects of this historical review.