MIKULICZ-RADECKI, JOHANNES VON

born May 16, 1850, Czernowitz, Rom. died June 4, 1905, Breslau, Ger. Polish surgeon whose innovations in operative technique for a wide variety of diseases helped develop modern surgery. At the University of Vienna (M.D., 1875) he assisted the German founder of abdominal surgery, Theodor Billroth (187582), and did much to popularize Joseph Lister's antiseptic methods. Professor of surgery at the universities of Krakw (188287), Knigsberg (188790), and Breslau (18901905), Mikulicz contributed prodigiously to cancer surgery, especially on organs of the digestive system. He was first to suture a perforated gastric ulcer (1885), surgically restore part of the esophagus (1886), remove a malignant portion of the colon (1903), and describe what is now known as Mikulicz' disease, a symmetrical swelling of the lacrimal (tear) and salivary glands caused by an overgrowth of lymph tissue. He also developed (1881) improved models of the esophagoscope and gastroscope, instruments introduced into the alimentary canal to view the esophagus and stomach, respectively.