AO Foundation

The Association of Osteosynthesis - Association for the Study of Internal Fixation (AO / AO ASIF ), also AO Foundation, is a medical foundation. President since 2012 Michael Raschke, a trauma surgeon at the University Hospital of Münster. His predecessor, Hans -Jörg esters, a trauma surgeon at the General Hospital Celle.

Foundation

The Association osteosynthesis was officially established on 6 November 1958 at the Hotel Elite in Biel by 13 Swiss physicians. It is dedicated to as the " Association for the Study of Internal Fixation " (in short AO) research, development and teaching in the field of trauma ( trauma surgery ). Initiators of the foundation were Martin Allgöwer from Chur, Maurice E. Müller from Zurich, Robert Schneider from United Höchstetten, Walter Bandi from Interlaken and Hans Willenegger from Liestal. Other participants in the founding meeting were René Patry, Fritz Brussatis, August " Urs " Guggenbühl, Ernst Baumann, Walter Schär, Walter Stähli, Hunziker and Ott.

The underlying idea was to achieve through a rigid fixation of the fracture and early functional rehabilitation. Until the formation of the AO fractures were usually closed set and partially treated for weeks by traction or plaster. This often resulted in bad positions, restrictions on movement and muscle atrophy, so that the subsequent rehabilitation often took months and was associated with long-term absence from work.

A surgical fracture treatment existed only sporadically in some centers without systematic research has taken place. Pioneers have included Gerhard Küntscher in Kiel, who developed the medullary nailing, and Robert Danis in Belgium, the Maurice E. Müller himself visited to learn his method of internal fixation.

Tasks

In the years 1960 to 1980 was prepared by the interaction of the AO, the modern method of treatment of bone fractures (osteosynthesis ) the global standard. Among other things, this resulted in the AO classification of fractures. The AO Foundation maintains its own research center in Davos with several institutes.

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