Life Science Encyclopedia

Karl Gottfried Paul Döhle (June 6, 1855 - December 7, 1928) was a German pathologist who was a native of Mühlhausen. He was a student at Tübingen, Leipzig, Strassburg and Kiel, where he received his doctorate in 1882. Afterwards he was an assistant at the pathological institute in Kiel, where he remained until his retirement in 1924. In 1908 he became head of the pathological intitute.

Döhle is remembered for his work in the field of histopathology, particularly in his research of syphilitic inflammation of the aorta. He is credited with being the first physician to describe the histology of syphilitic aortitis. A sometimes-used synonym of syphilitic aortitis is Döhle-Heller aortitis, named after Döhle and Arnold Ludwig Gotthilf Heller (1840-1913); Döhle's mentor in Kiel.

He his also known for the discovery of small (1-3 µ in diameter} light blue-gray, basophilic, leukocyte inclusions in the periphery of neutrophils, that are known today as Döhle bodies.

Selected writings

• Ein Fall von eigentümlicher Aortenerkrankung bei einem Syphilitischen. (Treatise on syphilitic aortitis), Kiel, 1885.
• Vorläufige Mittheilung über Blutbefunde bei Masern. (Paper on Döhle bodies), Zentralblatt für allgemeine Pathologie und pathologische Anatomie, Jena, 1892, 3: 150-152

References

• Who Named It?; Karl Gottfried Paul Döhle