Hermann Schloffer

Hermann Schloffer (May 13, 1868 in Graz - January 21, 1937) was an Austrian surgeon.

On March 16, 1907 Schloffer performed the first transsphenoidal surgery for removal of a pituitary adenoma at the University of Innsbruck.

In 1916 Schloffer became the first to remove a spleen for idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP).

His student Paul Kaznelson (1898-1959) hypothesized - in analogy with hemolytic anemia - that the excessive destruction of platelets in ITP would occur in the spleen and suggested to his tutor Schloffer to perform a splenectomy on a patient with chronic ITP.

[2] In 1933 he joined the fascist Fatherland Front in which he remained a member until his death in 1937.