Abstract
The first operations of diaphyseal fractures of the forearm data back to the 1880s. In 1878, Heine described the fixation of the diaphyseal nonunion of the distal ulna by an intramedullary ivory peg.
Hansmann published the first osteosynthesis of an acute fracture of the radius with a plate in 1886. The application of external fixation was reported by Parkhill 1897-8.
During the first two decades of the 20th century, plate osteosynthesis quickly spread through Europe and the U.S. thanks to Lambotte and Lane. In 1913, Schöne published the technique of closed intramedullary fixation of diafphyseal fractures of the forearm with a silver wire.
Posterolateral approach to the radius was described by Thompson in 1918; volar approach was published by Henry who mentioned it briefly in 1926 and specified it in detail in 1945. After a general decline of surgical treatment between th two World Wars, plate osteosynthesis became the method of choice, for diaphyseal fracture of the forearm in the following 30 years