Ranke en de moderne heelkunde in Groningen

Hans Rudolph Ranke (1849-1887) studied medicine in Halle, located in the eastern part of Germany, where he also trained as a surgeon under Richard von Volkmann (1830-1889), during which time he became familiar with the new antiseptic technique that had been introduced by Joseph Lister (1827-1912). In 1878 he was appointed head of the department of surgery in Groningen, the Netherlands, where his predecessor had been chronically indisposed and developments were flagging. Within a few months, Ranke had introduced disinfection by using carbolic acid both before and during operations. For the disinfection of wound dressings, he replaced carbolic acid with thymol as this was less pungent and foul-smelling. The rate of postoperative infections dropped to a minimum despite the inadequate housing and living conditions of the patients with infectious diseases. In 1887, at the age of 37, Ranke died after a brief illness — possibly glomerulonephritis — only eight years after he had assumed office. A street in the city of Groningen near its present-day University Medical Centre has been named after him.

Conflict of interest: none declared. Financial support: J.P. Gijselhart works part-time for the Association of the Dutch Journal of Medicine (Vereniging Nederlands Tijdschrift voor Geneeskunde), Amsterdam.