Adolf Gusserow

Life & Legacy

Adolf Ludwig Sigismund Gusserow (Berlin, 8 July 1836 – Berlin, 8 February 1906) was a German gynecologist who was a native of Berlin. He married Clara Oppenheim (1861–1944), a descendant of Berlin banker Joseph Mendelssohn.
Gusserow began his career as a lecturer of gynecological diseases and obstetrics in Berlin, and afterwards was a professor at the Universities of Utrecht, Zurich and Strasbourg. Later he returned to Berlin as director of the clinic of obstetrics and gynecology at the Berlin-Charité. Two of his better-known students and assistants were Alfred Dührssen (1862-1933) in Berlin, and Paul Zweifel (1848-1927) in Zurich.
In 1870 Gusserow was the first physician to describe a rare type of uterine cervical adenocarcinoma that is sometimes referred to as "adenoma malignum" or as a mucinous type of "minimal deviation adenocarcinoma" (mucinous MDA). It can be recognized by its "deceptively bland" histological appearance. Gusserow published his findings in a treatise titled Ueber Sarcoma des Uterus.
Among his better written efforts was Die Neubildungen des Uterus (Neoplasms of the uterus).