Hans Iselin

Biographical Timeline

• Born on February 21, 1878 in Basel, Switzerland, the son of architect Jakob Albrecht Ferdinand Iselin (1843–1881) and Anna Merian (1848–1932).
• Medical education – Studied medicine in Basel, Geneva and Kiel. His surgical teachers included Otto Hildebrand, Eugen Enderlen, Fritz de Quervain, Gerhard Hotz and Max Wilms.
• 1906 – Married the artist Gustava Haeger (1878–1962), thereafter also appearing in records as Hans Iselin-Haeger. They had three children, including the artist Faustina Iselin (1915–2010).
• 1907–1920 – Directed the Surgical University Polyclinic in Basel. During this period the clinic developed facilities for physiotherapeutic rehabilitation, including a dedicated exercise hall.
• 1908 – Studied the normal ossification centre at the fifth metatarsal tuberosity, publishing on the “Die Wenzel Grubersehe fibnlare Epiphyse” of the fifth metatarsal.
• 1912 – Completed his habilitation in surgery at the University of Basel. Published Wachstumsbeschwerden zur Zeit der knochem Entwicklung der Tubersositas metatarsi quinti, describing the condition now known as Iselin disease or Iselin apophysitis.
• 1914–1917 – Served as orthopaedic consultant to the reserve military hospital at Badenweiler. Work included prosthetics and treatment of wound infection during the First World War.
• 1917 – Appointed Extraordinary Professor (Extraordinarius) at the University of Basel. Given formal teaching remit in accident medicine (Unfallmedizin).
• 1919 – Opened his own surgical-orthopaedic practice in Basel.
• 1920s–1930s – Developed a broad research programme spanning surgery, orthopaedics, radiology, trauma, post-traumatic follow-up and medico-legal assessment of injuries.
• 1927 – Elected a corresponding member of the Royal Society of Medicine for work on radiotherapy for surgical tuberculosis.
• 1932 – Published his influential measurement methodology for medico-legal assessment of accident injuries (Mess-Methodik für die unfallmedizinische Begutachtung).
• 1933 – Presented Entwicklungsmechanik als orthopädisches Behandlungsprinzip, applying Wilhelm Roux’s concepts of developmental mechanics to orthopaedic treatment.
• 1937 – Appointed Ordinary Professor (Ordinarius) at the University of Basel. Attempted to establish an Institute of Accident Medicine, financing the initiative substantially himself. The project ultimately lacked sufficient university backing.
• 1944 – Added his own radiology institute to his surgical-orthopaedic practice, continuing both until his death.
• 1946–1947 – Nuremberg Medical Trial. Appears in the Harvard Law School Nuremberg Trials Project as a Swiss physician and affiant, with Karl Gebhardt listed as a significant acquaintance.
• 1948 – Made an honorary member of the Swiss Society for Accident Medicine and Occupational Diseases.
• 1950 – Received the Hebeldankpreis from the Hebelbund Lörrach.
• Died on November 22, 1953, aged 75.

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Medical Eponyms

Iselin disease (1912)

Iselin disease (Iselin apophysitis; traction apophysitis of the fifth metatarsal) is a painful disorder of the developing apophysis at the fifth-metatarsal tuberosity in children and adolescents.

1908 – Iselin investigated the normal secondary ossification centre of the fifth-metatarsal tuberosity. He recognised it as a developmental structure, acknowledged Wenzel Gruber’s 1885 anatomical priority, and warned that its radiographic appearance could be mistaken for fracture.

1909 – At the Basel surgical polyclinic, Iselin examined a 13-year-old girl with painful swelling and tenderness over the fifth-metatarsal tuberosity. She complained of pain on walking and enlargement of the ossification centre on the symptomatic side, without preceding trauma.

1912 – Iselin described the painful clinical disorder in Wachstumsbeschwerden zur Zeit der knochem Entwicklung der Tubersositas metatarsi quinti. He compared the process with Schlatter disease of the tibial tuberosity and stated that the fifth-metatarsal syndrome had not previously been described.

Iselin did not describe the pathophysiology of traction apophysitis but concluded:

Development of apophyses at tendon insertions may be accompanied by pain and swelling, at the fifth-metatarsal tuberosity just as at the tibial tuberosity, without preceding injury…a sufficient explanation for this painful development of the apophysis cannot yet be given

The condition was subsequently eponymously termed Iselin disease.

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Major Publications

• Iselin H. Von den Verletzungen des Zwerchfells und ihren Folgen den Zwerchfellbrüchen. 1907
• Iselin H. Die Wenzel Grubersehe fibulare Epiphyse der Tuberositas metatarsi quinti im Röntgenbild. Ein wahrscheinlich konstanter Befund im 13. oder 14. Lebensjahre. Deutsche Zeitschrift für Chirurgie 1908; 92: 561-568
• Iselin H. Wachstumsbeschwerden zur Zeit der knochem Entwicklung der Tubersositas metatarsi quinti. Deutsche Zeitschrift für Chirurgie 1912; 117: 529–535.
• Iselin H. Mess-Methodik für die unfallmedizinische Begutachtung. 1932
• Iselin H. Entwicklungsmechanik als orthopädisches Behandlungsprinzip. Schweizerische medizinische Wochenschrift 1933
• Iselin H. Die Amputation der oberen Extremität. 1940

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References

Biography

• Becker F. Prof. Dr. Hans Iselin. Verhandlungen der Schweizerischen Naturforschenden Gesellschaft. 1954; 134: 329-330
• Prof. Dr. Hans Iselin, Chirurg und Unfallmediziner. Porträt

Eponymous terms

• Gruber W. Auftreten der Tuberositas des Os metatarsale 5, sowohl als persistierende Epiphyse, als auch mit einer an ihrem äußeren Umfange aufsitzenden persistierenden Epiphyse. Archiv für pathologische Anatomie und Physiologie und für klinische Medizin, 1885; 99: 460-471
• Schlatter C. Verletzungen des schnabelförmigen Forsatzes der oberen Tibiaepiphyse. Beiträge zur klinischen Chirurgie, 1903; 38: 874-87
• Schlatter C. Unvollständige Abrißfrakturen der Tuberositas tibiae oder Wachstumsanomalien? Bruns’ Beiträge zur klinischen Chirurgie 1908; 59: 518
• Deniz G, Kose O, Guneri B, Duygun F. Traction apophysitis of the fifth metatarsal base in a child: Iselin’s disease. BMJ Case Rep. 2014 May 15;2014:bcr2014204687.
• Sylvester JE, Hennrikus WL. Treatment outcomes of adolescents with Iselin’s apophysitis. J Pediatr Orthop B. 2015 Jul;24(4):362-5.
• Kishan TV, Mekala A, Bonala N, Sri Pavani B. Iselin’s disease: Traction apophysitis of the fifth metatarsal base, a rare cause of lateral foot pain. Med J Armed Forces India. 2016 Jul;72(3):299-301.
• Forrester RA, Eyre-Brook AI, Mannan K. Iselin’s Disease: A Systematic Review. J Foot Ankle Surg. 2017 Sep-Oct;56(5):1065-1069