[From "bone suture" to modern osteosynthesis--a chronology]

The five extremely well-known principals of osteosyntheses have been developed since the mid 19th century. Anaesthesia and antisepsis as absolute conditions blossomed into the heyday of surgery. Wire was the earliest material for osteosyntheses, successfully applied for the first time in 1827 by Rodgers in New York, systematically by Lister in Glasgow since about 1870, and later used in form of various 'bone sutures' and cerclages. In 1963 Weber (St. Gallen) developed the excentric wire tension band which for the first time provided technical knowledge in the treatment of fractures. In 1978 Labitzke introduced cables instead of the rigid cerclage wire. His lateral cable tension band which compresses the entire fracture area by itself, clearly improves the functional results. 1843 after the wire came the external fixation clamp from Wutzer (Bonn), 1886 the plate osteosynthesis from Hansmann (Hamburg), 1909 the K-wire from Kirschner (Greifswald) and 1939 the intramedullary nail from Küntscher (Kiel). Time has changed and modernised all principals. At the moment intramedullary stabilizing systems are at the centre of intensive research.