Early Conquest of the Rock: Julius Lempert's Life and the Complete Apicectomy Technique for the Treatment of Suppurative Petrous Apicitis

Abstract Julius Lempert (1891–1968) was one of the most revolutionary and innovative neuro-otologists of the 20th century. He had a remarkable role in advancing the field of otolaryngology to its modern shape and form, especially through his groundbreaking introduction of the fenestration procedure for the treatment of otosclerosis. Although he is highly celebrated by many neuro-otologists for his contributions to our surgical and anatomical understanding of the petrous bone, he is not well known to the neurosurgical community. In this article, we give a detailed account of Dr. Lempert's life and discuss his invaluable contribution to skull base petrous bone anatomy and surgery through his pioneering work on the complete apicectomy for the treatment of suppurative petrous apicitis.

[1]  A. Gulya,et al.  Glasscock-Shambaugh surgery of the ear , 2002 .

[2]  Steven M. Kelly,et al.  Otologic Surgery , 1995, Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery.

[3]  G. Shambaugh.  Julius Lempert and the fenestration operation. , 1995, The American journal of otology.

[4]  R. R. Smith,et al.  The petrosal approach: indications, technique, and results. , 1991, Acta neurochirurgica. Supplementum.

[5]  A. Hakuba,et al.  A combined retroauricular and preauricular transpetrosal-transtentorial approach to clivus meningiomas. , 1988, Surgical neurology.

[6]  R. R. Smith,et al.  Petrosal approach for petroclival meningiomas. , 1988, Neurosurgery.

[7]  T. Kawase,et al.  Transpetrosal approach for aneurysms of the lower basilar artery. , 1985, Journal of neurosurgery.

[8]  U. Fisch,et al.  The transotic approach to resection of difficult acoustic tumors of the cerebellopontine angle. , 1980, The American journal of otology.

[9]  W. House,et al.  The transcochlear approach to the skull base. , 1976, Archives of otolaryngology.

[10]  T. King.  Combined translabyrinthine-transtentorial approach to acoustic nerve tumours. , 1970, Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine.

[11]  Shambaugh Ge.  Julius Lempert 1890-1968. , 1969, Archives of otolaryngology.

[12]  G. Hoople.  Personal recollections of Julius Lempert. , 1969, Archives of otolaryngology.

[13]  J. Donaldson.  Simple subcortical mastoidectomy. , 1969, Archives of otolaryngology.

[14]  J. Donaldson.  Improvement of hearing in cases of otosclerosis. "Improvement of hearing in cases of otosclerosis. A new, one stage surgical technic" by Julius Lempert. , 1969, Archives of otolaryngology.

[15]  R. Winchester,et al.  The stapedectomy procedure of Shea. A report of 250 patients with follow-up study. , 1960, Archives of otolaryngology.

[16]  H. Schuknecht,et al.  Techniques of stapes mobilization. , 1960, A.M.A. archives of otolaryngology.

[17]  S. Rosen.  Palpation of stapes for fixation; preliminary procedure to determine fenestration suitability in otosclerosis. , 1952, A.M.A. archives of otolaryngology.

[18]  J. Lempert.  IMPROVEMENT OF HEARING IN CASES OF OTOSCLEROSIS: A NEW, ONE STAGE SURGICAL TECHNIC , 1938 .

[19]  M. Myerson.  SUPPURATION OF THE PETROUS PYRAMID: SOME VIEWS ON ITS SURGICAL MANAGEMENT , 1937 .