Hermann Oppenheim
Hermann Oppenheim (1858-1919) was a German neurologist.
Oppenheim’s Lehrbuch der Nervenkrankheiten was a significant medical text. It ran to seven German editions and was translated into Russian, Spanish, Italian, and English.
Eponymously affiliated with Oppenheim sign/reflex (1902) and the archaic term Oppenheim disease (1900). He was the first to define Restless Leg Syndrome as a neurological illness and to recognise a familial component.
His book Lehrbuch der Nervenkrankheiten für Ärzte und Studierende ran to seven German editions and was translated into Russian, Spanish, Italian, and English
Biography
- Born January 1, 1858, Warburg
- Studied medicine at the Universities of Göttingen, Berlin, and Bonn
- 1882 – approved physician Maison de Santé, Berlin
- 1883-1891 neurological and psychiatric clinic of the Charité, University of Berlin under teh tutelage of Carl Friedrich Otto Westphal (1833-1890). After death of Westphal, Oppenheim was due to be his successor but was vetoed by the Prussian secretary of education, acting in the spirit of intolerance of that period (anti-Semitism)
- 1889 – published a treatise on traumatic neuroses which proposed that trauma caused organic changes which perpetuated psychic neuroses; highly criticised at the time
- 1892 – opened his own private neurology clinic not affiliated with the University
- Died May 22, 1919, Berlin.
Medical Eponyms
Oppenheim sign/reflex (1902)
Neurological reflex where the big toe dorsiflexes when the examiner forcibly draws their fingers along the sides of the tibia, indicating damage to the pyramidal tract.
Original
English
Steifheit, Rigidität oder ein spastischer Zustand der Muskulatur lassen sich an einer Übertreibung des Sehnenphänomens erkennen.
Führt man bei einem gesunden Individuum einen kräftigen Strich mit dem Stiel des Perkussionshammers über die Innenfläche des Unterschenkels am hinteren Rande der Tibia resp. noch etwas hinter demselben, indem man etwa handbreit unterhalb des Kniegelenks beginnt und bis nahe an die Knöchelgegend herabdringt, so kommt es infolge dieser Beizung in der Regel zu einer Plantarflektion der Zehen. Oft ist es erforderlich, bei dieser Prüfung die Aufmerksamkeit des zu Untersuchenden abzulenken, um willkürliche bezw. durch den Erwartungsaffekt ausgelöste Bewegungen zu vermeiden, die nicht den Charakter echter Reflexe haben.
Stiffness, rigidity, or spastic condition of the muscles can be recognised from exaggeration of the tendon phenomenon.
If one draws the handle (or shaft) of a percussion hammer over the inner surface of the leg from the upper margin of the tibia downwards, one sees in the healthy person either no movement at all in the foot and toes or else a plantar flexion of the toes. If the irritation is made strongly enough, distinct plantar flexion of the toes is the rule, but sometimes it is necessary to divert the attention of the patient to obviate voluntary movements. Whereas in persons with the symptom complex of spastic hemiparesis, this reflex movement of the muscles is extended to the great toe and adducts or abducts the foot
Oppenheim disease (1900)
[Archaic term] Congenital, sometimes familial, disorder, characterised by muscular hypotonia and hypoplasia without atrophy. It results in floppy infants with excessive mobility of joints and consequent abnormal postures
Many well-defined neurological disorders produce the same clinical picture casting doubt over the existence of Oppenheim disease as a specific entity. Oppenheim used the term ‘myotonia congenita’ for the condition, a term attributed to Asmus Julius Thomsen (1815-1896) and his description in 1876 on his own family members (Thomsen disease)
Major Publications
- Oppenheim H. Die traumatischen Neurosen, nach den in der Nervenklinik der Charité in den 8 Jahren 1883-1891 gesammelten Beobachtungen. 1889
- Oppenheim H. Zur Kenntniss der syphilitischen Erkrankungen des centralen Nervensystems 1890
- Oppenheim H. Weitere Mittheilungen in Bezug auf die trauematischen Neurosen mit besonderer Berücksichtigung der Simulationsfrage. 1891
- Oppenheim H. Nervenleiden und Erziehung. 1899
- Oppenheim H. Über allgemeine und lokalisierte Atonie der Muskulatur (Myatonie) im frühen Kindesalter. Monatsschrift für Psychiatrie und Neurologie. 1900;8:232–3. [Oppenheim disease]
- Oppenheim H. Die myasthenische Paralyse (Bulbärparalyse ohne anatomischen Befund). 1901
- Oppenheim H. Zur pathologie der Hautrefelexe an den unteren Extremitäten. Monatsschrift für Psychiatrie und Neurologie. 1902;12:518–30. [Oppenheim sign]
- Oppenheim H. Beiträge zur Diagnostik und Therapie der Geschwülste im Bereich des zentralen Nervensystems. 1907
- Oppenheim H. Lehrbuch der Nervenkrankheiten für Ärzte und Studierende [Vol I, Vol II] Berlin: Karger, 1923; 7e [Willis-Ekbom disease – Vol II:1774]
References
- Madonick MJ. Statistical control studies in neurology. VII. The Oppenheim sign. AMA Arch Neurol Psychiatry. 1956 Sep;76(3):247-51.
- Pearce JMS. Hermann Oppenheim (1858-1919). J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 2003 May;74(5):569.
- Araújo R, Firmino-Machado J, Correia P, Leitão-Marques M, Carvalho J, Silva M, Nogueira A, Nunes C. The plantar reflex: A study of observer agreement, sensitivity, and observer bias. Neurol Clin Pract. 2015 Aug;5(4):309-316.
Eponym
the person behind the name
