Friedrich Stelzner

Friedrich Stelzner (4 November 1921 – 5 June 2020) was a German academic surgeon, scientist and educator with specialization in gastrointestinal surgery.

Three years later, he was appointed as a Private docent based on a thesis that focused on the radical removal of rectal cancer with preservation of anal continence function.

He received a scholarship from the British Council to complete additional training in colorectal surgery at London's St Mark's Hospital.

The collaboration with leading colorectal surgeons in Britain left a strong impression on Stelzner and strengthened his desire to specialize in this field.

Stelzner worked with the anatomist Werner Lierse in these studies and made use of translucent muscular preparations and serial sections of esophagi,[8] which were processed in situ.

Knowledge of the exact structure of the muscular wall of the esophagus forms the basis of surgical procedures for treatment of achalasia and gastroesophageal reflux disease.

Here he developed a close collaboration with the department chair for comparative anatomy, Dietrich Starck, with whom he identified the enveloping fascias of the rectum and of the neck.

A number of morphological studies from this period focus on the causes of pilonidal sinus disease and of tract-forming suppurative hidradenitis as well the embryology and function of the pelvic structures.