Kuntscher Femoral Nail
Date1990-2004
Object NameNail
MediumSteel
ClassificationsMedicine and Healthcare
Dimensions43.9cm
AcquisitionPresented in 2004 by Mr G P Ashcroft.
LocationView by Appointment
Object numberABDMS069445
About MeThe Kuntscher metal pin gives fixation to a fracture by being driven through the centre of the bone (medulla) the length of the femur or the tibia. It supports the fracture during the healing process and is removed when this is complete. Gerhard Kuntscher was not the first man to use such nailing but he did develop technique and materials which, during World War Two, proved the value of the procedure. The immediate value of course was to get troops back into action. In wartime the Germans not only treated their own troops with this technique they also gave help to injured prisoners of war. But so new and unknown was the Kuntscher nail that some American surgeons thought it was a form of experimentation, in the words of one These bastardly Germans . . . they're destroying the intramedullary canal. But it was no atrocity. Brutal as it sounds the nailing worked, particularly for those suffering from mid-shaft fracture, and continues to be used by orthopaedic surgeons.There are no works to discover for this record.
