Abstract
In 1882, prof. Carl Gussenbauer published a case of nailing of an avulsion fracture of the calcaneal tuberosity.
A displaced fracture of this type was sustained by a 49-year old man as a result of a fall. Two days later Gussenbauer performed closed reduction by using a bone hook and subsequent percutaneous fixation of the fragment by a nail.
The nail was removed six weeks later. The patient healed without complications and with full restoration of the foot function.
Prof. Carl Ignaz Gussenbauer (1842-1903), a pupil of prof.
Bilroth, was one of the oustanding personalities in the field of surgery in the 2nd half of 19th century. He became famous for using an artificial external replacement of the larynx after laryngectomy and for surgery of the pancreas.
From 1878 to 1894, he headed Department of Surgery of the German Faculty of Medicine in Prague. In Prague he was appointed Dean of the Medical Faculty of the German Charles-Ferdinand University for the period of 1881/2 and subsequently Rector of this University in 1882/3.
In 1894 he returned to Vienna where he replaced his teacher prof. Bilroth as head of the 2nd Department of Surgery.
His reputation can be illustrated by the fact that in 1894 he chaired, as the first foreigner, the Congress of the German Surgical Society in Berlin. In 1902/1903 he held the post of Rector of the University in Vienna.
Gussenbauer's stay in Prague is documented by a commemorative plaque in the building of 1st Department of Surgery of the 1st Faculty of Medicine at Charles University in Prague, listing all heads of the department.