[Treatment of tuberculosis before the introduction of chemotherapy]

20 years before the detection of the tubercle bacillus by Robert Koch Brehmer and Dettweiler have created the fundamentals of tuberculosis therapy. The rest-cure in the open air initiated by them and the system of sanatorium treatment resulting from it have formed the management of tuberculosis all over the world for nearly 100 years. Even collapse therapy in the heroic phase of tuberculosis treatment has remained only a supplement to conservative therapy. In the centre of the scientific discussions, substantially influenced also by the "Wiener Schule", there were the problems of the first manifestations of tuberculous disease its early detection, giving the best chances of cure at those times; there was the knowledge that the cavity was of crucial significance for the fate of the tuberculous patient; in consequence thoracic collapse surgery was developed.