[Reflections of a present-day gynaecologist on the work of Carl Freiherr v. Rokitansky in the fields of pathology and anatomy]

With both its academic disciplines, gynaecology and obstetrics, the classical clinical subject of "gynaecology" in a wider sense was established mainly on the basis of a normal and, above all, abnormal, pathological morphology. It's a fact that the name of Carl Freiherr v. Rokitansky has always been remembered as an outstanding personality who established and dominated these fields of medical science. He described for the first time cases of endometriosis, strangulation of ovarian tumors, tuberculisation in the puerperal uterus, luteinic cysts in cases of hydatide moles, external wandering of the ovum, puerperal osteophytes and the spondylolisthetic pelvis. He created a linguistically and didactically suitable terminology: fibroids, later called fibromyomas, the kyphotic, the skoliotic and the coxalgic pelvis. Among the 14 medical terms used in pathological anatomy which are connected with the name of Rokitansky, two refer to the fields of gynaecology and obstetrics: the Mayer-v. Rokitansky-Kuster(-Hauser) syndrome in gynaecology and the Rokitansky spondylolisthetic pelvis in obstetrics. Rokitansky's authoritarian way of advocating the theory of Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis concerning the aetiology of puerperal fever plays an important part in both biographies. The 200th birthday of the founder of modern pathological anatomy is reason enough to look at Rokitansky's work from the point of view of the present-day gynaecologist.