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Dtsch Med Wochenschr 2018; 143(25): 1852-1857
DOI: 10.1055/a-0596-4733
Übersicht
© Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York

Auf den Spuren des Erb’schen Auskultationspunkts: Rätsel gelöst

Searching the Roots of Erb’s Auscultation Point
Frederick Kolb   *
,
Johannes Spanke   *
,
Andreas Winkelmann
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Publication History

Publication Date:
18 December 2018 (online)

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Abstract

“Erb’s point” is the fifth point of auscultation for the heart exam, located in the third intercostal space close to the sternum. It has sometimes been attributed to famous German neurologist Wilhelm Heinrich Erb (1840 – 1921), but without historical evidence. Erb’s focus on neurology suggested that the auscultation point may have been confused with other points in the neck named after Erb. As Erb was a specialist for neurological manifestations of syphilis, we speculated that the heart murmur of aortic incompetence produced by syphilitic aortitis, best heard at Erb’s point, linked Erb’s name to the auscultation point. However, we eventually found a publication by an American physician who visited Erb’s lectures in Heidelberg and reported that Erb explicitly introduced this “fifth point” in his case presentations in the late 1890 s. After all, Erb was chair of general medicine, with the first German chair of neurology only being established in 1919.

Der „Erb’sche Punkt“ gilt als der 5. Auskultationspunkt für die Herzuntersuchung. Er wird gelegentlich dem Neurologen Wilhelm Erb zugeschrieben, aber es gibt dafür bisher keinen historischen Beleg. Auch andere Punkte, die eher „neurologisch“ sind, werden nach Erb benannt – könnte es sich also um eine Verwechslung handeln? Dieser Beitrag sucht nach dem wahren Namensgeber für den Erb’schen Auskultationspunkt.

Schlüsselwörter

Wilhelm Heinrich Erb - Erb’scher Punkt - Herzauskultation - Aortenklappeninsuffizienz - Eponym

Key words

Wilhelm Heinrich Erb - Erb’s point - cardiac auscultation - aortic insufficiency - eponym

* Geteilte Erstautorenschaft, beide Autoren haben gleichwertig beigetragen.