[The role of Orvosi Hetilap in the development of Hungarian gastroenterology. Part 1: 1857-1904].

UNLABELLED: The role of the Hungarian weekly medical journal Orvosi Hetilap - first published in 1857 - in the development of special medical fields has not been studied.

AIM: Analysis of the papers dealing with diseases of the gastrointestinal tract published in Orvosi Hetilap.

METHOD: The author manually reviewed the journal volumes between 1857 and 1904. The original articles, journal and book reviews were identified and classified according to their subject and origin.

RESULTS

In the period studied, 455 original articles were published about gastrointestinal diseases, constituting 8.2% of the total publications. Diseases of the oesophagus were studied in 2.4% of the articles, gastric disturbances in 14.7%, intestinal diseases in 14.2%, and hepatobiliary diseases in 24.2%. 592 journal articles were reviewed from 113 different publications, 52.5% being German, 15.9% French and 10.0% English; 42.7% of the articles were published in 10 core journals (8 German and 2 British). Many of the 116 books presented became classics of the medical literature. Basic knowledge in endoscopy was mediated by French and German authors. After pioneering laryngoscopic and urologic examinations, the first oesophagoscopies with rigid instruments were performed in 1902. The most studied field was hepatology: the clinical and pathologic features of acute liver failure, chronic hepatitis and cirrhosis were then described.

CONCLUSIONS

Most of the contemporary aspects of gastrointestinal diseases were covered by the original articles published in Orvosi Hetilap . German and French and, to a lesser extent, British sources of scientific information prevailed. Diseases of the liver and biliary tract were studied in most detail.