1. Report of the Historian
Andreas Gohritz
FESSH Congress 2010
Bukarest, June 22-25, 2010

2. Nicolaus Rüdinger (*1832 +1896)
Barber, Surgeon, Anatomist
Munich, Germany
1st Photographical Atlas
in Anatomy (1871)
Embalmed Ludwig II (1888)

3. Joint denervation Upper extremity Shoulder Elbow Wrist Finger joints
Thumb joints
Lower extremity
Knee
Sinus tarsi
Lee A. Dellon

4. “The Joint Nerves of the Human Body“ (1847)
“ there is only here and there mention
of nerve branches going to a joint …“

5. Andreas Gohritz, Edgar Biemer Hannover, Munich / Germany
FESSH 2010, Bukarest Instructional Course: History of Microsurgery in Hand Mutilation – The European Perspective
Andreas Gohritz, Edgar Biemer
Hannover, Munich / Germany

6. Prehistory Myth of Saints Cosmas and Damian transplanting the leg
of a servant to an
esteemed churchman

7. Early Development of Microvascular Techniques
Themistokles Gluck
Alexis Carrel
Carl-Olof Nylen

8. Double upper arm allotransplantation in Munich, July 2008
Performed by plastic surgeons led by C. Hoehnke / E. Biemer

9. Edgar Biemer – 40 years of Microsurgery in Europe Chir Main (2010)
Current series on
Pioneers of Hand Surgery
with Tubiana, Pulvertaft,
Moberg, …

10. Invited Lecture: Themistocles Gluck ( ) - an early Romanio-German visionary of replacement surgery

11. Gluck‘s innovations Nerve sutures / tx / tubes Joint prosthesis
Shoulder / Wrist
Knee / Ankle
Biocompatibility / Allografts
Experimental animal studies
Organ resection / substituion
Surgery of the larynx
Vessel surgery (before Carrel)
Anticoagulation (leech extract)

12. Resistance of contemporaries
splendid ideas heavily
opposed by German
surgical establishment
“I cannot allow that you
discredit German science …,
my pupils and I will fight you with all means” (von Bergmann, 1891)

13. „Many reasons may favour going
with the stream of tradition –
yet original natures form their own ideas
and follow them, even if those may
not be translated immediately into
practical facts.“
Themistokles Gluck (1931)

14. Who Was the First in History to Treat Radial Palsy by Tendon Transfer
Who Was the First in History to Treat Radial Palsy by Tendon Transfer? Korteweg et al. PRS 2010; 125: Tomasz Z. Drobnik (Poland, * ), 1894: ECRL  EDC, ECRB (partial)  EPL HOWEVER Patient with Poliomyelitis !

15. Who Was Really the First in History to Treat Radial Palsy by Tendon Transfer? Felix Franke (* ) 8-y-old patient with radial palsy (e-physiologically confirmed) FCU  EDC, FCR  APL / EPB, Tenodesis ECRL/B
1st idea: Franke F. Ueber Sehnenüberpflanzung.
Arch Klin Chir 1896; 52:

16. no incurable radial palsy any more,
Felix Franke. Ueber die operative Behandlung
der Radialislähmung nebst Bemerkungen
über die Sehnenverpflanzung bei
spastischen Lähmungen.
Arch Klin Chir 1898; 57: 763
„ … I have the right to say that there is
no incurable radial palsy any more,
at least if there is either the median or ulnar
nerve unparalyzed“.
Reply: accepted in Plast Reconstr Surg 16

17. Thank you for your kind attention
FESSH Congress 2010
Bukarest, June 22-25, 2010