Professor G. A. Ilizarov's contribution to the method of transosseous osteosynthesis

The author of the article, Professor Vladimir I. Shevtsov, General Director of The Russian Center who worked together with Academician G. A. Ilizarov for almost a quarter of the century describes the main stages in the development of the Ilizarov method and apparatus in historical context, and concentrates on the main trends of traumatology and orthopaedics worked out by G. A. Ilizarov. G. A. Ilizarov's involvement in the experimental and theoretical substantiation of transosseous osteosynthesis is emphasized as well as the various studies that have resulted in the discovery of the stimulating influence of tension stress on the genesis and growth of tissues which have come to be known as the "Ilizarov Effect." Thus the article provides a review of the prominent contribution of G. A. Ilizarov to pioneering new ways of treating patients with fractures including severe open injuries of limbs, pseudarthroses and defects, limb length deficiency and deformities as well as the many other orthopaedic conditions to which a G. A. Ilizarov's method has been applied.