Abstract
Though the cells Karl Hürthle initially described in dogs were actually C cells, he has long been miscredited with the discovery of oncocytic or “Hürthle cells” in the thyroid gland. In fact, in Germany, these cells are referred to as “Askanazy cells” in protest of the misattributed name, because it was actually endocrine pathologist Max Askanazy who first described the oncocytic cells of the thyroid. It was James Ewing who assigned the misnomer in 1919, in his monumental first edition of Neoplastic Diseases, in which he referred to large cells with abundant pink granular cytoplasm as “Hürthle cells,” thus propelling Karl Hürthle into endocrine medical history (Ewing, Neoplastic Diseases: A Textbook on Tumors, WB Saunders, Philadelphia, 1919). In truth, Hürthle was better known for his research regarding cardiovascular physiology and hemodynamics.
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McCoy, K., Carty, S. (2015). Karl Hürthle. In: Pasieka, J., Lee, J. (eds) Surgical Endocrinopathies. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-13662-2_16
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