Honours and memorial

In 1887 Billroth was made a member of the Austrian Herrenhaus, " House of Lords"; a distinction rarely bestowed on members of the medical profession. In 1888, Theodor Billroth was elected member of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina.

A memorial of him was unveiled in the arcade square at the University of Vienna on November 7, 1897.

· «The future of a school is based on the work of the pupils, as the future of a country on the work is its citizens. »

Inaugural lecture, Second Surgical Department, Vienna, October 11, 1867.

· «Can there be a better preparatory school for the physician than the study of the natural sciences? I think not! »

The Medical Sciences in the German Universities, pt, II, Ch. 2.

· «There is only one way to train capable university teachers - one way that has been practically testes - and that is to secure for the universities the services of the most distinguished men of science, and to furnish them with the necessary equipment for their teaching. »

The Medical Sciences in the German Universities, Pt. IV,

· «It is not the men of formal medical pedagogy that attract students; contrariwise, scientists are the magnets for these school. »

· " Only the man who is familiar with the art and science of the past is competent to aid in its progress in the future. " Ca 1850.

· «The greatest happiness of my life was founding a school that carries on my aims of scientific and humanitarian accomplishments. »

Letter to Wilhelm His, 1893.

· «Taking care of such an unhappy patient, with so little prospect of any success, is one of the heaviest loads one can lay on a human being, which only women can carry for any length of time with never-ending patience. »

Letter to Johannes Brahms, January 7, 1874 (tr. by H. Barkan).

· «Let what you observe penetrate your inmost soul, let it so warm and replenish you that your thoughts constantly refer to it, and then you will find true pleasure and delight in your intellectual labours. »

Lectures on Surgical Pathology and Therapeutics.

· «A person may have learned a very great deal and still be an exceedingly unskilled physician, who awaken little confidence in his powers... The manner of dealing with patients’ of winning their confidence, the art of listening to them (the patient is always more anxious to talk than to listen), of soothing and consoling them or of drawing their attention to serious matters, - all this cannot be learned from books. The student can learn these things only from immediate contact with the teacher, whom he will unconsciously imitate... The patient longs for the doctor’s daily visit; it is the event upon which all his thoughts and emotions turn. The physician can do all he hast to do with speed and precision, but he must never appear to be in a hurry, and never absent-minded. »

The Medical Sciences in the German Universities, Pt. III.

· «He who combines the knowledge of physiology and surgery, in addition to the artistic side of his subject, reaches the highest ideal in medicine. »

Quoted in Surgery, 1961; 50: 697.

· «The pleasure of a physician is little, the gratitude of patients is rare, and even rarer is material reward, but these things will never deter the student who feels the call with him. »

· «Culture is always an aristocratic thing. The physician, the school teacher, the lawyer, the clergyman should be the best men of their village, of their city, of the circles in which they move. In order to be so they must have the super-power that comes with knowledge and skill, and this is acquired only through the hard work of study, and even more through the cultivation of the inner urge to study.

The Medical Sciences in the German Universities, pt. 2.

· «The principle, method and the goal of investigations is recognition of truth, even though the truth may be in conflict with our social, ethical and political circumstances. »

The Medical Sciences in the German Universities.

· «Solitary, meditative observation is the first step in the poetry of research, in the formation of scientific phantasies, the reality of which we then test with the tools of logic, mathematics, physics and chemistry. »

The Medical Sciences in the German Universities, pt. II.

· «The cases of throat, lung, brain, spinal and nerve diseases must not be taken from the general medical clinics, in order to supply the special clinics. The student ought not to become accustomed to hearing the professor say every day «You are hoarse? Go to the throat clinic, » or You are coughing? Go to the ward for lung cases! » Such a scattering of medical thought and action is sure to make a very bad impression of the students. They will accustom themselves not to examine and treat every case to the best of their ability, but on the contrary, they will think, «Well, if even the professor can’t handle this case, what shall I do later on in my practice»

· «One may perform surgical procedures only if there is little chance of success. To operate without having a chance means to prostitute the beautiful art and science of surgery. »

· «It is a most gratifying sign of the rapid progress of our time that our best text-books become antiquated so quickly. »

· «He who cannot quote his therapeutic experience in numbers is a charlatan; be truthful for clarity’s sake, do not hesitate to admit failures, as they must show the mode and place of improvement. »

· «Become familiar not only with teaching but also with writing. »

Quoted by James B. Herrick in Memories of Eight Years.

Fig no 3 statue of Theodor Billroth

Billroth I

Billroth I, more formally Billroth's operation I, is an operation in which the pylorus is removed and the distal stomach is anastomosed directly to the duodenum.

The operation is most closely associated with Theodor Billroth, but was first described by Polish surgeon Ludwik Rydygier.

The surgical procedure is called a gastroduodenostomy

is a surgical procedure where the doctor creates a new connection between the stomach and the duodenum. This procedure may be performed in cases of stomach cancer or in the case of a malfunctioning pyloric valve.

after removal of a part of the stomach, the proximal stump, which has a significant clearance, is partially sutured from the side of lesser curvature, but the area from the side of great curvature corresponding to the size of the duodenum is left unstitched. Between the stumps of the stomach and the duodenum, an anastomosis of the end-to-end type is applied.

Figure no 4 Billroth I stomach resection

Billroth II

Billroth II, more formally Billroth's operation II, is an operation in which a partial gastrectomy (removal of the stomach) is performed and the cut end of the stomach is closed. The greater curvature of the stomach (not involved with the previous closure of the stomach) is then connected to the first part of the jejunum in end-to-side anastomosis. The Billroth II always follows resection of the lower part of the stomach (antrum). The surgical procedure is called a partial gastrectomy and gastrojejunostomy. The Billroth II is often indicated in refractory peptic ulcer disease and gastric adenocarcinoma.

Over the years, the Billroth II operation has been colloquially referred to as any partial removal of the stomach with an end to side connection to the stomach as shown in the picture; however, technically, this picture is a modification of Billroth's operation called a partial gastrectomy with a Kronelein anastomosis where the divided end of the stomach is directly anastomosed to the side of the jejunal loop.

Von Hacker was the first person to refer to the Billroth II partial gastrectomy operation writing from Billroth's clinic in 1885.

the stumps of the duodenum and stomach are sutured tightly, and then create a gastro-intestinal anastomosis of the type side to side. A loop of jejunum is led to the cult of the stomach behind the transverse colon through an opening in the mesocolon transversum.

Figure no 5 Billroth II stomach resection

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