Alban Köhler, the pioneer of osteoradiology

The terms Köhler´s teardrop, Köhler disease I and Köhler disease II are known to almost all orthopaedic surgeons and radiologists. However, little is known about this prominent personality of the German and world radiology, who described these structure or diseases. Alban Köhler (1874-1947) was one of the first German speaking pioneers in the emerging discipline - radiology, particularly radiology of bones and joints. He introduced new radiological techniques, such as "Teleröntgenographie", and published a number of outstanding studies focused primarily on the musculoskeletal system, as well as on pulmonary tuberculosis and cardiac radiology. For a long time, Köhler had been actively involved in the study of radiation sickness and proposed measures that are valid to this day. The most famous Köhler´s publication "Lexikon der Grenzen des Normalen und der Anfänge des Pathologischen im Röntgenbilde" (The borderlands of the normal and early pathological in the skiagrams) was published for the first time in 1910. After Köhler´s death, the book was repeatedly published and gained recognition worldwide. Its 9th edition was initiated by Professor Emil Alfred Zimmer in 1953. Under a slightly modified title "Borderlands of normal and early pathological findings in skeletal radiology ", it is still published today, both in German and English.