[The early history of biliary tumor surgery in Germany]

By means of the famous German gall-system surgeon Hans Kehr (1862-1916) the level of the cancer surgery concerning the biliary organs in the late 19th and the early 20th century is represented. The violent progress in gall-stone surgery led to an intensive employment of the carcinomas too. The knowledge carried through, that the malignant tumors of the biliary tract are curable only by the surgical treatment. Like today the diagnosis of the gall-bladder carcinoma was the greatest problem. Within the bounds of his scientific work Hans Kehr plead for the surgical intervention instead of the medication and invented many new operative methods.