Jan Waldenström

Biography

• Born 17 April 1906 Stockholm, Sweden. Son of Johann Henning Waldenström (1877-1972) Professor of orthopedic surgery
• 1937 – Graduated with M.D. from Uppsala University
• 1937 – Studied organic chemistry in the laboratory of Nobel Prize winner Hans Fischer at the Technische Hochschule in Munich
• 1941 – Professor of medicine, Uppsala University
• 1944 – Professor of internal medicine, Lund University
• 1944 – Chief physician, Department of Medicine in Malmö
• 1972 – Retired from clinical work
• 1973-1981 Editor in chief of Acta Medica Scandinavica now known as Journal of Internal Medicine
• 1966 – Made honorary member of the Royal Society of Medicine, London
• Honorary degrees from Universities of Oxford, Freiburg, Oslo, Paris, Dublin, Mainz, London, Innsbruck, and Poitier
• Died on December 1, 1996

Medical Eponyms

Waldenström macroglobulinemia (1944)

Proliferation of immunoglobulin M, elevated serum viscosity, and a lymphoplasmacytic infiltrate in the bone marrow

long standing hyperglobulineamia and severe anaemia. In the bone marrow sternal puncture only revealed some plasma cells clustered together and never any roentgenological signs of myeloma

Waldenström JG in Incipient myelomatosis or «essential» hyperglobulinemia with fibrinogenopenia—a new syndrome? 1944.

Other Eponyms

• Waldenström uveoparotitis (1937) – a clinical manifestation of sarcoidosis characterised by bilateral iritis and parotitis similar to Heerfordt syndrome
• Waldenström hyperglobulinaemia (1943) – a chronic autoimmune syndrome marked by relapsing, nonthrombocytopenic purpuric eruptions appearing over the lower limbs
• Waldenström disease (1945) – acute thyrotoxicosis with muscular and cerebral complications, most commonly seen in elderly patients and associated with iodine deficiency
• Waldenström hepatitis (1950) – a form of chronic active hepatitis predominantly affecting girls during or shortly after puberty

Major Publications

• Waldenström JG. Observations in acute porphyria. Acta Medica Scandinavica 1934; 83: 281-3
• Waldenström JG. Studien über porphyrie. Acta Medica Scandinavica.1937; 92(82s); 1-254.
• Waldenström JG. Some observations on uveoparotitis and allied conditions with special reference to the symptoms from the nervous system. Acta Medica Scandinavica. 1937;91:53-68. [Waldenström macroglobulinemia]
• Waldenström JG. Purpura hyperglobulinemica. Nordisk medicin. 1943; 20: 288.
• Waldenström JG. Incipient myelomatosis or «essential» hyperglobulinemia with fibrinogenopenia—a new syndrome? Acta Medica Scandinavica 1944; 117: 216–47
• Waldenström JG, Vahlquist, B. Studies on the excretion porphobillinogen in patients with so called porphoryia. Acta Medica Scandinavica. 1944;117:1-14.
• Waldenström JG. Incipient myelomatosis or essential hyperglobulinemia with firbrinogenemia – a new syndrome? Acta Medica Scandinavica. 1944;117:216-247.
• Waldenström JG. Acute thyrotoxic encephalo- or myopathy, its cause and treatment. Acta Medica Scandinavica, 1945;121:251-294.
• Waldenström JG. Zwei interessante Syndrome mit Hyperglobulinämie. (Purpura hyperglobulinaemica und Makroglobulinämie). Schweizerische medizinische Wochenschrift. 1948; 78: 927-928.
• Waldenström JG. The porphyrias as inborn errors of metabolism. The American Journal of Medicine. 1957; 22: 758-773.
• Waldenström JG. Monoclonal and polyclonal gammopathies and the biological system of gamma globulins. Prog Allergy. 1962; 6: 320-48.
• Waldenström JG. Macroglobulinemia. A review. Haematologica 1986; 71: 437–40.
• Waldenström JG. Reflections and recollections from a long life with medicine. Haematologica series. A publication of the Ferrata-Storti Foundation. Rome, 1994: 1-137.

References

• Sherlock S. Waldenström’s Chronic Active Hepatitis. Acta Medica Scandinavica. 1966;179;S445:426-433.
• Geraint D. Waldenström’s syndromes. An International Journal of Medicine. 2010;103:67-68.
• Ribatti D. Review The fundamental contribution of Jan C. Waldenstrom to the discovery and study of the so-called “Waldenstrom macroglobulinemia”. Leukemia Research 2007:31:435-438.
• Kyle RA, Anderson KC. A Tribute to Jan Gosta Waldenström. Blood 1997;89:4245-4247
• Wollheim FA. Jan Gösta Waldenström and rheumatology. Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, Ann Rheum Dis. 2019 May;78(5):583-585.