Emil Theodor Kocher - valve surgery for epilepsy

Emil Theodor Kocher (1841–1917) was a pioneering and
versatile Swiss surgeon who played a decisive role in the
surgical evolution on the threshold to the 20th century.
Apart from conducting intense research and fostering
the development of the surgical treatment of thyroid
gland diseases (honored with a Nobel Prize in 1909), he
remained a generalist and was active in orthopedic, genitourinary,
and neurologic surgery. Even today, many
surgical techniques and instruments are still named
after him, thus providing evidence of his great impact.
His neurosurgical ambitions included, in particular, cerebral
and spinal trauma, the pathophysiology of elevated
intracranial pressure, as well as etiological considerations
and the operative treatment of epilepsy. This article
aims to shed light on Kocher’s work on epilepsy,
published exclusively in German, and illustrates the
development of his idea on valve surgery for recurrent
general convulsions.