Enno Kleihauer
Enno Kleihauer (1927–2017) was a German paediatrician and haematologist
Professor Kleihauer worked at the University of Um from 1969 until his retirement in 1995, as head of the Haematology Department II, and later head of the Clinic for Pediatrics.
He was involved in 183 original publications, primarily in paediatric haematology. Highlights include core publications in Nature and Science in the late 1950s and 1960s, which covered a wide medical and scientific spectrum in haemoglobin research, highly innovative at the time.
Kleihauer and Klaus Hermann Betke (1914–2011) described a simple test for the quantitative detection of foetal erythrocytes in the maternal blood in 1957…the Kleihauer-Betke test
Biography
- Born July 6, 1927 at Pewsum in Ostfriesland
- 1954 – Graduated medicine from Freiburg. Became Doctor of medicine in 1956.
- 1955-1957 awarded a postgraduate scholarship by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Association). Kleihauer worked on ‘Red Cell Properties of Newborns and Infants. Comparative Studies of Fetal and Adult Erythrocytes’ under the guidance of Klaus Betke.
- 1957 – detected foetal erythrocytes in the mother’s circulation by acid elution of adult haemoglobin from adult red blood cells – proof of an essential concept required for the development of anti-D prophylaxis for Rh-negative mothers
- 1964 – Venia Legendi, Tübingen
- 1966-1967 postdoctoral research fellow at the NIH and in Augusta, Georgia, USA
- 1969-1972 head of the Haematology Department II, Universität Ulm
- 1972-1995 director of the Clinic for Pediatrics Il, Universität Ulm
- Died June 7, 2017 at Weißenhorn, Germany
Medical Eponyms
Kleihauer–Betke Test (1957)
Laboratory test used to screen maternal blood samples for the presence of foetal red blood cells. The Kleihauer–Betke Test relies on the fact that foetal RBCs are generally rich in haemoglobin F (HbF) which is resistant to acid.
Major Publications
- Kleihauer E, Braun H, Betke K. Demonstration von fetalem Hämoglobin in den Erythrocyten eines Blutausstrichs. Klin Wochenschr 1957; 35: 637–8.
- Betke K, Kleihauer E. Fetaler und bleibender Blutfarbstoff in Erythrocyten und Erythroblasten von menschlichen Feten und Neugeborenen. Blut 1958; 4: 241–4.
- Kleihauer E, Betke K. Elution Procedure for the Demonstration of Methæmoglobin in Red Cells of Human Blood Smears. Nature. 1963 Sep 21;199:1196-7
- Kleihauer E. The preleukemic syndromes (hematopoietic dysplasia) in childhood. Eur J Pediatr 1980; 133: 5–10 (1980)
- Kohne E, Kleihauer E. Hemoglobinopathies: a longitudinal study over four decades. Dtsch Arztebl Int. 2010 Feb;107(5):65-71.
References
Biography
- Nachruf für Prof. Dr. Enno Kleihauer. Klinische Pädiatrie, 2017; 229(06): 358–358.
- Baskett TF. Kleihauer, Enno (1927–2017). In: Eponyms and Names in Obstetrics and Gynaecology. 3e. 2019
Eponymous terms
- Zipursky A, Hull A, White FD, Israels LG. Foetal erythrocytes in the maternal circulation. Lancet 1959; 1: 451–2.
Eponym
the person behind the name
