Intramedullary nailing in fracture treatment: History, science and Kuntscher's revolutionary influence in Vienna, Austria

Although the first intermedullary fixation technique was already reported in 1886, successfully intermedullary nailing did not start until November 1939 when Kuntscher's revolutionary technique was applied for the first time. Whereas Kuntscher initially stated that his "marrow nail" was suitable for almost every fracture type as well as for other procedures including fixation of osteotomies, joint arthrodesis and pseudarthrosis treatment he tried to develop an own nail for every possible fracture type through the years. Undoubtedly, Kuntscher has to be considered one of the most influential surgeons. Nevertheless, he was never offered a university position and a lot of people did not acknowledge his brilliancy until his death in 1972. Only in Vienna the willingness to seize Kuntscher's ideas was high. Therefore, in addition to a historic overview and to fundamental knowledge referring to reamed and unreamed respectively to static and dynamic nailing Kuntscher's influence on Viennese researchers is presented in our paper. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.