Max Saenger

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Max Saenger (German: Max Sänger) (January 12, 1853 - March 14), 1903) was a German obstetrician and gynecologist who was a native of Bayreuth. He spent most of his professional career in Leipzig. In 1894 he was the founder of the journal Monatsschrift für Geburtshilfe und Gynäkologie. He died in Prague.

In 1882 Saenger introduced the practice of sutural closure of the uterus following Caesarean section operations. The previous autumn, Ferdinand Adolf Kehrer performed the first lower segment Caesarean section in Europe. Saneger's contribution helped reduce infection and preserved the mother's uterus. Afterwards, Kehrer and other surgeons adopted Saenger's methodology.

Sanger used silver and silk thread as suture material. Silver sutures had been introduced into medicine by the American gynecologist James Marion Sims.

[edit] Terminology

  • Saenger's suture - the closure of the uterine wound in caesarean section by eight or ten deep silver wire sutures, and the use of twenty or more superficial stitches taken through the peritoneum.
  • Sanger's operation: Cesarean section followed by careful closure of the uterine wound by three tiers of sutures. Also described as a caesarean section in which the uterus is taken out through a long abdominal cut before the fetus is removed.

[edit] References