Werner Forssmann

Werner Theodor Otto Forßmann (Forssmann in

English; German pronunciation: [ˈvɛʁnɐ ˈfɔʁsˌman] ; 29 Werner Forßmann
August 1904 – 1 June 1979) was a German researcher
and physician from Germany who shared the 1956
Nobel Prize in Medicine (with Andre Frederic
Cournand and Dickinson W. Richards) for developing
a procedure that allowed cardiac catheterization. In
1929, he put himself under local anesthesia and
inserted a catheter into a vein of his arm. Not knowing
if the catheter might pierce a vein, he put his life at
risk. Forssmann was nevertheless successful; he safely
passed the catheter into his heart.

Early life
Werner Forßmann
Forssmann was born in Berlin on 29 August 1904.
Born Werner Theodor Otto Forßmann
Upon graduating from Askanisches Gymnasium, he
29 August 1904
entered the University of Berlin to study medicine,
Berlin, German Empire
passing the State Examination in 1929.[1]
Died 1 June 1979 (aged 74)
Schopfheim, West Germany

Career Nationality German

Alma mater University of Berlin
He hypothesized that a catheter could be inserted Known for Cardiac catheterization
directly into the heart, for such applications as directly
Awards Nobel Prize in Physiology or
delivering drugs, injecting radiopaque dyes, or
Medicine (1956)
measuring blood pressure. The fear at the time was that
such an intrusion into the heart would be fatal.[2] To Scientific career
prove his point, he decided to try the experiment on Fields Medicine
himself.

In 1929, while working in Eberswalde, he performed the first human cardiac catheterization. He ignored
his department chief and persuaded the operating-room nurse in charge of the sterile supplies, Gerda
Ditzen, to assist him. She agreed, but only on the promise that he would do it on her rather than on
himself. However, Forssmann tricked her by restraining her to the operating table and pretending to
locally anaesthetise and cut her arm whilst actually doing it on himself.[3] He anesthetized his own lower
arm in the cubital region and inserted a urinary catheter into his antecubital vein, threading it partly along
before releasing Ditzen (who at this point realised the catheter was not in her arm) and telling her to call
the X-ray department. They walked some distance to the X-ray department on the floor below where
under the guidance of a fluoroscope he advanced the catheter the full 60 cm into his right ventricular
cavity. This was then recorded on X-Ray film showing the catheter lying in his right atrium.[3]
The head clinician at Eberswalde, although initially very annoyed, recognized Werner's discovery when
shown the X-rays; he allowed Forssmann to carry out another catheterization on a terminally ill woman
whose condition improved after being given drugs in this way.[3] An unpaid position was created for
Forssmann at the Berliner Charité Hospital, working under Ferdinand Sauerbruch, although once
Sauerbruch saw his paper, he was dismissed for continuing without his approval. Sauerbruch commented,
"You certainly can't begin surgery in that manner".[4] Facing such disciplinary action for self-
experimentation, he was initially forced to leave the Charité, but was later re-instated until again being
forced to leave in 1932 for not meeting scientific expectations.[3] His surgical skills were noted, however,
and he was recommended to another hospital where he worked for a while before leaving in 1933 after
marrying Dr. Elsbet Engel, a specialist in urology there. Finding it difficult to get a job with his
reputation, he quit cardiology and took up urology. He then went on to study urology under Karl Heusch
at the Rudolf Virchow Hospital in Berlin. Later, he was appointed Chief of the Surgical Clinic at both the
City Hospital at Dresden-Friedrichstadt and the Robert Koch Hospital in Berlin.[1]

From 1932 to 1945, he was a member of the Nazi Party. At the start of World War II, he became a
medical officer. In the course of his service, he rose to the rank of Major, until he was captured and put
into a U.S. POW camp. Upon his release in 1945, he worked as a lumberjack and then as a country medic
in the Black Forest with his wife. In 1950, he began practice as a urologist in Bad Kreuznach.[1][2]

During the time of his imprisonment, his paper was read by André Frédéric Cournand and Dickinson W.
Richards. They developed ways of applying his technique to heart disease diagnosis and research. In
1954, he was given the Leibniz Medal of the German Academy of Sciences. In 1956, the Nobel Prize in
Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Cournand, Richards, and Forßmann.[1]

After winning the Nobel Prize, he was given the position of Honorary Professor of Surgery and Urology
at the University of Mainz.[1] In 1961, he became an honorary professor at the National University of
Córdoba.[1] In 1962, he became a member of the Executive Board of the German Society of Surgery. He
also became a member of the American College of Chest Physicians, honorary member of the Swedish
Society of Cardiology, the German Society of Urology, and the German Child Welfare Association.[1]

Personal life
He and Elsbet had six children: Klaus Forßmann in 1934, Knut Forßmann in 1936, Jörg Forßmann in
1938, Wolf Forßmann in 1939 (who was first to isolate the atrial natriuretic peptide), Bernd Forßmann in
1940 (who helped develop the first clinical lithotriptor), and Renate Forßmann in 1943.[1][2]

He died in Schopfheim, Germany of heart failure on 1 June 1979.[2] His wife died in 1993.

See also
André Frédéric Cournand
Andreas Gruentzig
 Dickinson W. Richards

Notes
1. "Werner Forssmann – Biography" (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/19
56/forssmann-bio.html). Nobel Foundation. Retrieved 2008-12-22.
2. "Werner Forssmann" (http://www.nndb.com/people/706/000129319/). NNDB. Retrieved
2009-03-31.
3. Heiss, H. W.; Hurst, J. Willis (1992). "Werner Forssmann: A German Problem with the Nobel
Prize". Clinical Cardiology. 15 (7): 547–9. doi:10.1002/clc.4960150715 (https://doi.org/10.10
02%2Fclc.4960150715). PMID 1499182 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/1499182).
S2CID 8008163 (https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:8008163).
4. "The History of Werner Forssmann" (https://web.archive.org/web/20080613020523/http://ww
w.utmb.edu/forssmann/history_of_werner_forssmann.asp). UTMB. Archived from the
original (http://www.utmb.edu/forssmann/history_of_werner_forssmann.asp) on 2008-06-13.
Retrieved 2008-12-22.

References
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02%2Fclc.4960150715). PMID 1499182 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/1499182).
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External links
Biographical Sketch of Werner Forßmann with video clip (http://www.ptca.org/archive/bios/fo
rssmann_01.html)
The 'Man Who Touched His Own Heart' (https://www.npr.org/2015/01/30/382717129/the-ma
n-who-touched-his-own-heart-changed-medicine); NPR interview with Robert Dunn, his
biographer
www.aerztezeitung.de: Der Herzkatheter-Selbstversuch: Dichtung und Wahrheit (in
German) (http://www.aerztezeitung.de/panorama/default.aspx?sid=315957)
 Heart pioneers and the curious case of Werner Forssmann - British Heart Foundation Blog
Article (https://blog.bhf.org.uk/heart-pioneers-and-the-curious-case-of-werner-forssmann-3d
63a9c2bcf6)
Werner Forssmann (https://www.nobelprize.org/laureate/361) on Nobelprize.org including
the Nobel Lecture, December 11, 1956 The Role of Heart Catheterization and
Angiocardiography in the Development of Modern Medicine

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