Kocher, Emil Theodor

Kocher, Emil Theodor (ā`mĭl tā`ōdôr kôkh`ər), 1841–1917, Swiss surgeon, M.D. Univ. of Bern, 1865. He was professor of surgery at Bern (1872–1911). For his work on the physiology, pathology, and surgery of the thyroid gland—which he was the first (1876) to excise in cases of goiter—he received the 1909 Nobel Prize in Medicine. He was a skilled surgeon and a pioneer in the application of asepsis. His works include a textbook on operative surgery (1894).

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Kocher, Emil Theodor

(born Aug. 25, 1841, Bern, Switz.—died July 27, 1917, Bern) Swiss surgeon. He was the first surgeon to remove the thyroid gland to treat goitre (1876). He later found that total removal could cause a state resembling cretinism, but that leaving part of the gland in place made this temporary. He introduced a surgical method for reducing shoulder dislocations, as well as many new surgical techniques, instruments, and appliances. A type of forceps and a gallbladder surgery incision named for him are still used. He adopted Joseph Lister's principles of complete asepsis in surgery. In 1909 he won a Nobel Prize.