From Archiv für Klinische Chirurgie to Langenbeck's Archives of Surgery: 1860-2010

The International Abstract of Surgery and the migration of scientific leadership from Europe to America

PURPOSE

The International Abstract(s) of Surgery (IAS) was a monthly supplement to Surgery, Gynecology & Obstetrics (SG&O, later Journal of the American College of Surgeons) from 1913-1994, approximately equal in size to the journal itself. It followed the example of the Zentralblatt für Chirurgie (ZblCh), which had been compiling abstracts of the current world surgical literature since 1874 (but in the German language). This article seeks to review the relationships of these surgical abstract journals in historical context.

METHODS

Citations in the IAS were systematically sampled for 1913-1990, and in the ZblCh and other American and German surgical publications for 1905-1940. Changes in the proportions of citations by language category were tabulated over time and related to concurrent international events and the publication histories of the sampled journals.

RESULTS

German-language citations were most frequent until the First World War, even in America. They subsequently became less frequent in America, but remained dominant in Germany. Articles in French or other languages were occasionally cited by Americans, but in German publications, they were cited as frequently as those in English. Contemporary observations from this time confirm that the American literature was being disregarded by most German surgeons. Since the Second World War, surgical publications have become predominantly English-language, even in Germany, and printed abstract compilations have become irrelevant.

CONCLUSIONS

The history of the IAS and ZblCh reflects world events of the early twentieth century, the isolation and decline of German scientific leadership, the rise of American surgery, and the transition from a multilingual print-based era to one where scientific communication is primarily electronic and in English.

The history, evolution and basic science of osteotomy techniques

Osteotomy techniques date back to Hippocrates circa 415 BC (Jones Hippocrates collected works I, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 2006; Brorson in Clin Orthop Relat Res 467(7):1907-1914, 2009). There is debate about the best way to divide the bone surgically and which technique yields the best bone regenerate in lengthening; ensuring predictable new bone formation and healing of the osteotomy are the primary goals. We review the history and techniques of the osteotomy and consider the evidence for optimum bone formation. Methods discussed include variants of the 'drill and osteotome' technique, use of the Gigli saw and use of a power saw. Differences in bone formation through the different techniques are covered.

Authorities and foundation of an orthopaedic school in Germany in the nineteenth century: Part I: Conrad Johann Martin Langenbeck; Georg Friedrich Louis Stromeyer; Bernhard Rudolf Conrad von Langenbeck; Johann Friedrich August von Esmarch

PURPOSE

The rapid development of surgery in Germany in the nineteenth century occurred for many reasons, particularly political and economic changes and cultural and scientific progress. This paper analyses the progress of orthopaedic surgery from an historical point of view.

METHODS

After Napoleon's defeat, a peace conference was held in Vienna (1814-1815). Prussia took a portion of Saxony, Austria and territories along the Rhine. The unification of Germany continued in 1850 and 1880; several wars occurred in the unification process, including against Denmark, Austria and France. These wars caused an urgent request for army surgeons and cooperation between civil and military practice.

RESULTS

The increase in the number of faculty institutes in surgery, the unification of different surgical organisations, and the organisation of scientific societies participated in this development. C. Langenbeck, G. Stromeyer, B. von Langenbeck and J.F. von Esmach were the most proactive surgeons of this period

CONCLUSION

Improvements in war surgery, percutaneous tenotomy, the foundation of the German Society of Surgery and bloodless surgical techniques for limbs were the most important innovations.

Turkish endocrine surgery publications in international scientific journals

OBJECTIVE

In recent years, major progress has been made in the field of endocrine surgery in Turkey, similar to that in the rest of the world. Parallel to these developments, there has been a significant increase in the number of publications in the related field. Our study aimed to evaluate Turkey's publications related to endocrine surgery in the international arena.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Members of the general surgery departments from academic centers in Turkey were determined. Using these member names, a PubMed search was performed for English papers related to "endocrine surgery." For searching papers from non-academic centers, the same engine was used. To reach manuscripts possibly missed by the PubMed search, 3 national calls were made through the website of the Turkish Society of Endocrine Surgery. The obtained papers were divided into "thyroid," "parathyroid," "adrenal," and "neuroendocrine tumors" and were listed according to the publication year. In addition, all manuscripts were listed according to the publishing journal and the 2012 impact factor of that journal. This study did not require ethical approval, because it did not involve evaluation of experimental or patient data.

RESULTS

A search of Turkish general surgery clinics revealed 497 international publications, between 1976 and 2012. When listed according to the year of publication, most publications were found to be in the year 2009. Papers appeared mostly in "Surgery Today." The mean impact factor of the journals where the papers have been published was 1.9 (0.1-13.8). The rates of thyroid, parathyroid, adrenal tissue and neuroendocrine tumors related publications were 69%, 10%, 15% and 6%, respectively. Since this study is not an experimental study or a study related to patient data, we did not apply for ethical approval.

CONCLUSION

The contribution of Turkish general surgeons' to world science is apparent when evaluated in terms of publications related to endocrine surgery until recently. Particularly, since 2002, with the increase in the number of publications in the field of endocrine surgery, there has been an increase in Turkey's importance on the international platform.

Cornelius Celsus--ancient encyclopedist, surgeon-scientist, or master of surgery?

PURPOSE

The Roman nobleman Cornelius Celsus (25 BC-AD 50) wrote a general encyclopedia (De Artibus) dealing with several subjects, among which some had medical content (De Medicina), an eight-volume compendium, including two books about surgery (VII + VIII). It is the most significant medical document following the Hippocratic writings. In 1443, Pope Nicolas V rediscovered the work of Cornelius Celsus, despite it having been forgotten for several centuries, and it was the first medical and surgical book to be printed (AD 1478). Up until the nineteenth century, 60 editions were published in Latin as well as numerous translations in European languages, the last of which was a French translation in 1876. While Celsus' work is the best account of Roman medicine as practiced in the first century of the Christian era and its influence persisted until the nineteenth century, there is controversy as to whether Cornelius Celsus himself actually practiced as a surgeon or was only an encyclopedist who collected in the Latin language the medical knowledge available at that time.

METHODS

The detailed analysis of the surgical techniques described by Celsus, the modifications tailored to the findings, possible complications, detailed description of pre- and postsurgical activities, give the general impression that he himself practiced surgery at least within his family and among his dependents. In addition, his descriptions give a clear insight into the astonishingly high standard of surgical knowledge available at the time of Celsus.

RESULTS

His work thus reflects the state of knowledge of his time, which is why he also assumed the role of teacher and scientist. As such, his meets the modern criteria addressed to a surgeon-scientist, who apart from the practical surgical activity, also had a role as teacher of surgery and scientist. Whether Cornelius Celsus had inaugurated a new surgical technique and was the first to describe that, and as such can be described as a master of surgery, cannot be corroborated.

CONCLUSION

Cornelius Celsus deserves a firm place in the history of surgery because with his publication De Medicina, Book VII + VIII, he has preserved Roman surgical knowledge in the first century of the Christian era and, thanks to the use of Latin in medicine and surgery, this continues to be retained up till the present day.

Biographical sketch: Themistocles Gluck (1853-1942)

This biographical sketch on Themistocles Gluck corresponds to the historic text, The Classic: Report on the positive results obtained by the modern surgical experiment regarding the suture and replacement of defects of superior tissue, as well as the utilization of re-absorbable and living tamponade in surgery (1891), available at DOI 10.1007/s11999-011-1837-7 .

From Archiv für Klinische Chirurgie to Langenbeck's Archives of Surgery: 1860-2010

INTRODUCTION

In February 1860, B. Langenbeck, Th. Billroth, and G. Gurlt certified in Berlin with the publisher A. Hirschwald the founding of Archiv für Klinische Chirurgie. The journal published extended reports about application of new and case-proven surgical procedures. Separate sections were dedicated to surgical casuistics and small surgical communications and report of surgical institutions from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland as well as annual statistical reports of hospitals. Beginning with the first issue, the Archive was an international journal with the focus on gastrointestinal, trauma, orthopedic, thyroid, and vascular surgery. A section Achievements and Progress in Surgery referred to published results in national and international medical and surgical journals.

GERMAN SOCIETY OF SURGERY

Surgeons from Germany contributed strongly to the rise of operative treatment concepts in the second half of the nineteenth century by new surgical procedures, many of them published in the Archiv für Klinische Chirurgie. Since 1923, the German Society of Surgery took Archiv für Klinische Chirurgie as the official journal of the society. Beginning 1950, Langenbeck's published in a separate supplement the proceedings of the annual congress of the German Society of Surgery. A second supplement published since 1972 focused exclusively on reporting of research work presented in the section of Surgical Forum for Experimental and Clinical Surgery.

AFTER THE WAR

After World War II, Langenbeck's Archiv für Chirurgie gained acceptance as the leading scientific surgical journal in Germany. Since 1998, the concept of Langenbeck's Archiv was completely changed to an English journal with the title Langenbeck's Archives of Surgery. In the last 12 years, Langenbeck's has turned to an international German-surgery-based electronic journal. Langenbeck's Archives of Surgery experienced an increasing international reputation; in 2001, only two non-American journals (British Journal of Surgery and Langenbeck's) belonged to the top ten journals in general and GI-tract surgery. The present impact factor (IF) of Langenbeck's Archives of Surgery is 1.829 (5-year IF). The decrease of subscriptions for the journal is compensated by an increase of electronic readers. The electronic supplementary material provided by the Springer Company is used to publish manuscripts in the section How-To-Do Surgery, combined with a video clip about surgical techniques. The focus of Langenbeck's is general, GI-tract, endocrine, and HBP surgery.

CONCLUSION

Langenbeck's has continuously been published for 150 years and is considered to be the worldwide oldest scientific surgical journal. The English-language-based journal contributes increasingly to an international communication of surgical research and clinical surgeons from Germany.