Otto Lanz

Otto Lanz (1865 to 1935) was a Swiss surgeon, born in Steffisburg, who spent the second half of his career in the Netherlands. After studying medicine at several European universities he worked from 1890 to 1892 as an assistant to Theodor Kocher at the University of Bern, made a long study trip to Berlin, Naples and London, and settled in 1894 as a docent of surgery at Bern. In 1902 he was named professor of surgery at the University of Amsterdam. He died in Amsterdam in 1935. He is remembered for his surgery of the thyroid gland and for his work connected with appendicitis, and in plastic surgery he introduced mesh grafting in 1907. His name survives in two medical terms, the Lanz incision, a cosmetic improvement on the McBurney incision for abdominal surgery, and Lanz point, a place in the lower abdomen that is tender in appendicitis. He also collected Italian Renaissance art, and after the Second World War that collection was returned to the Netherlands. This entry follows the lead of the source article.