Ludwig Aschoff

Biography

• Born 10 January 1866
• 1899 – Medical degree from the University of Bonn
• 1906 – University of Freiburg
• Died 24 June 1942 in Freiburg, Germany

Medical Eponyms

Rokitansky–Aschoff sinuses (1842, 1905)

Rokitansky-Aschoff sinuses are the result of hyperplasia and herniation of epithelial cells through the fibromuscular layer of the gallbladder wall and are usually referred to as adenomyomatosis of the gallbladder. [aka *Luschka’s sinuses, crypts, glands, or ducts]

Aschoff bodies (1904)

Granuloma in the myocardium specific for rheumatic fever.

In his work on rheumatic myocarditis, Aschoff described the characteristic Aschoff body and presented a histopathological picture of myocarditis that was to exert a great influence on the classification of the disease. [also aka *Aschoff-Geipel bodies after independent description by German pathologist Paul Rudolf Geipel (1869-1956) publication Untersuchungen über rheumatische Myokarditis in 1906]

Aschoff-Tawara node (1906)

The atrioventricular node [AV node; Node of Tawara; Aschoff-Tawara node]

Knowledge of the conduction system of the heart was greatly advanced by the work of Sunao Tawara 田原 淳, (1873 – 1952) in Aschoff’s laboratory in Marburg at the beginning of this century. Tawara’s monograph, ‘Das Reizleitungssystem des Säugetierherzens‘ [The Conduction System of the Mammalian Heart] established the link between the bundle of His and the Purkinje fibers by discovering the left and the right bundle branch, the interposed components between them, and by identifying the Purkinje fibers as the terminal ramifications of these components. Tawara added another component, the atrioventricular node, and defined these components as a system – the conduction system of the heart.

The AV node is sometimes referred to as the Aschoff-Tawara node. However, although Tawara’s work on the conduction system was carried out in Aschoff’s laboratory and under his guidance, Aschoff did not claim to be a co-author of the monograph, only providing the foreword to Tawara’s work.

Major Publications

• Scnidt MB, Aschoff L. Die Pyelonephritis in anatomischer und bakteriologischer Beziehung. 1893
• Aschoff L. Kurze Übersichtstabelle zur Geschichte der Medizin. 1898
• Aschoff L. Über das Bower Manuscript : Medicinische Gesellschaft in Göttingen. 1899
• Aschoff L, Gaylord HR. Kursus der pathologischen Histologie: mit einem mikroskopischen Atlas. 1900 [English translation: Welch WH. The principles of pathological histology. 1901]
• Aschoff L. Ehrlich’s Seitenkettentheorie und ihre Anwendung auf die künstlichen Immunisierungsprozesse. 1902
• Aschoff L. Zur Myocarditisfrage. Verhandlungen der Deutschen pathologischen Gesellschaft, 1904; 8: 46-53. [English translation: Concerning the question of myocarditis. 1941; 731-739]
• Aschoff L. Bemerkungen zur pathologischen Anatomie der Cholelithiasis and Cholecystitis. Verhandlungen der Deutschen pathologischen Gesellschaft 1905; 9: 41-48
• Aschoff L, Tawara S. Die heutige Lehre von den pathologisch-anatomischen Grundlagen der Herzschwäche; kritische Bemerkungen auf Grund eigener Untersuchungen. 1906.
• Aschoff L. Die Wurmfortsatz-Entzèundung : eine pathologisch-histologische und pathogenetische Studie. 1908
• Aschoff L, Koch W. Skorbut; eine pathologisch-anatomische Studie. 1919
• Aschoff L. Pathologische anatomie. 1921
• Aschoff L. Lectures on pathology: delivered in the United States. 1924
• Aschoff L, Diepgen P. Kurze übersichtstabelle zur geschichte der medizin. 1936
• Aschoff L. The History of the Circulation. Glasgow Med J. 1938;130(2):53-75.

References

• Geipel P. Untersuchungen über rheumatische Myokarditis. Deutsches Archiv für klinische Medizin. 1906; 85: 75
• Halpert B. Significance of the Rokitansky-Aschoff sinuses. Am J Gastroenterol 1961; 36: 534–539
• Jacobs E et al. Cyst of the gallbladder. Digest Dis Sci 1991; 36: 1796–1802
• Cariati A, Cetta F. Rokitansky-Aschoff sinuses of the gallbladder are associated with black pigment gallstone formation: a scanning electron microscopy study. Ultrastruct Pathol. 2003;27(4):265-270.
• Aumüller G. Die Entdeckung des AV-Knotens des Herzens durch Sunao Tawara und Ludwig Aschoff [The Discovery of the Cardiac Atrioventricular Node by Sunao Tawara and Ludwig Aschoff]. Dtsch Med Wochenschr. 2019;144(25):1771-1777.
• Fresquet JL. Aschoff, Karl Albert Ludwig (1866-1942). Historia de la Medicina
• Bibliography. Aschoff, L. (Ludwig) 1866-1942. World Cat Identities