Ferdinand Adolf Kehrer

Born(1837-02-16)16 February 1837

Died16 June 1914(1914-06-16) (aged 77)

OccupationGynecologist

Ferdinand Adolf Kehrer
Born	(1837-02-16)16 February 1837
Died	16 June 1914(1914-06-16) (aged 77)
Occupation	Gynecologist
Signature

Ferdinand Adolf Kehrer (16 February 1837 – 16 June 1914) was a German gynecologist who was a native of Guntersblum in Rhenish Hesse. He was the father of Ferdinand Adalbert Kehrer (1883–1966), a neurologist^[1] and Hugo Ludwig Kehrer (1876-1967), a German art historian.

He studied medicine at the University of Giessen under Ferdinand von Ritgen (1787–1867), at Munich with Karl von Hecker (1827–1882) and in Vienna under Karl von Braun-Fernwald (1822–1891). From 1872 to 1881, he was a "full professor" of obstetrics at the University of Giessen, where he also served as director of the Frauenklinik. In 1881 he relocated to the University of Heidelberg as chair of gynecology.

Kehrer is remembered for performing the first modern Caesarean section in 1881. It involved a transverse incision of the lower segment of the uterus, a procedure that minimizes bleeding, and is still widely used today,^{[2][self-published source]} typically in form of the Pfannenstiel incision, a modification made by Hermann Johannes Pfannenstiel in 1900.

On 25 September 1881, in the town of Meckesheim, he performed the first modern C-section. The patient was a 26-year-old woman, and the operation proved to be a success. Prior to Kehrer's operation, Caesarean sections were seldom performed, and when they were, the mortality rate of mothers was very high. The following year, Max Sanger (1853–1903), introduced the practice of suturing the uterus' Caesarean wound.

He died in Heidelberg.