Proximal femur fractures: the pioneer era of 1818 to 1925.

The foundations of the modern era of the treatment of proximal femur fractures were laid by Cooper who in 1819 published the first therapeutically oriented classification of these fractures. During the following 100 years the clinical diagnostics were further developed; five classifications of proximal femur fractures were formulated including the terminology used until now (peritrochanteric, intertrochanteric), and surgical treatment was started. The first attempt at internal fixation of the proximal femur in the 1850s was by Langenbeck. His patient died of sepsis. The first successful internal fixation of proximal femur fractures was done in 1875 by König. At the beginning of the twentieth century the method of surgical treatment for proximal femur fractures was improved by Lambotte, Delbet, and Putti. However, the time was not ready yet for this method of treatment. Only technologic progress (stainless steel, new technology), the additional development of anesthesia and asepsis, improvement of xray apparatus, and introduction of the traction table created the prerequisites for successful gradation of Smith-Petersen's method from 1925 to 1931, and which a few years later was used worldwide.