He graduated from the
University of Rostock in 1872, and for the next three years was
prosector at
Rostock under
Friedrich Sigmund Merkel (1845–1919). In 1875, he became an assistant to
Franz König (1832–1910) in
Göttingen, where he was habilitated for surgery in 1877. In the ensuing years, he studied surgery with
Bernhard von Langenbeck (1810–1887) and
Heinrich Adolf von Bardeleben (1819–1895), later being appointed chief physician of the surgical department at the Städtisches Krankenhaus in
Aachen (1881). In 1888, he became director of the surgical clinic at the
University of Jena. Riedel was a pioneer in the surgical treatment of
appendicitis and
cholecystitis. In 1888, he performed the first choledochoduodenostomy (
anastomosis of the
common bile duct to the
duodenum). His name is lent to the following medical eponyms: • Riedel thyroiditis: (sometimes called ligneous
thyroiditis, invasive fibrous thyroiditis or struma
fibromatosis): An uncommon
thyroid disease in which the thyroid gland is replaced by extensive fibrosis. First described by Riedel in 1896. • Riedel's lobe: A tongue-shaped process of the
liver, often found protruding over the
gallbladder in cases of chronic cholecystitis. == Honors ==