Gerhard Küntscher

Gerhard Küntscher (1900 to 1972) was a German surgeon, born in Zwickau, who pioneered the intramedullary nailing of long bone fractures. He invented the Küntscher nail, an internal fixation device that holds the fracture fragments in position during healing; the nail is rigid and cloverleaf shaped in cross-section. He first used it in November 1939 at the University Department of Surgery in Kiel and presented twelve cases at a surgical meeting in Berlin in March 1940, where it met general disapproval. The German military introduced the technique in 1942, and from 1942 to 1944 he taught Finnish surgeons to perform intramedullary nailing in Lapland. Knowledge of the method spread worldwide after returning prisoners of war, treated at a Luftwaffe hospital near Berlin, were found walking within days of femur surgery.