[The past, present and future of German surgery].

It is imperative that all surgeons familiarize themselves with the history and development of his chosen field. Until the 18th century, surgery in Germany and other areas of Europe was not performed by physicians but by barber surgeons. Surgeons originated from these ranks. In the second half of the 18th century, Bernhard von Langenbeck was one on the founders of surgery in Germany. He was one of the most respected teachers of his time and his most famous student was Theodor Billroth who formed the school from which von Miculicz and Sauerbruch graduated. This was the time of remarkable innovations, namely the development of asepsis by Bergmann, the first laryngectomy and the first gastric resection by Billroth and the first cholecystectomy by Langenbuch. Bier introduced lumbar anesthesia, Schleich infiltration anesthesia, Kehr developed surgery of the bile ducts and von Esmarch performed amputations of the extremities, under conditions of exsanguination. In 1872, Langenbeck, Simon, and Volkmann founded the German Association of Surgery. The world-known Operationslehre von Bier-Braun-Kümmell and the surgical manual by M. Kirschner was then published. At the beginning of the 19th century, Sauerbruch paved the way for thoracic surgery with use of the low pressure method. Forssmann succeeded in the catheterization of the right heart. M. Kirschner performed the first successful embolectomy and the first bridging of an defect of the esophagus. During world War II, German surgery lost touch with international developments and reestablishment followed with the schools of K.H. Bauer in Heidelberg and of R. Zenker in Marburg and Munich and others. Zenker's contributions to cardiosurgery are particularly remarkable.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)