The_Invention_of_Surgery

common. Somehow, fourteen of the nineteen patients whose humeral
heads were resected were “satisfied with their result and were carrying out
their usual work without appreciable disability.” Neer and his colleagues
dared to disagree, saying, “Nevertheless, the limited motion and fatigue
pain following resection has suggested the value of a replacement
prosthesis to serve as a fulcrum for motion.”
In the final column of the text, on page 257, is pictured a shiny, metallic
object, which is described as, “a recently devised articular replacement
currently being investigated.” The concluding sentences of the publication
assert, “Replacement prosthesis presents logical possibilities and may
prove of value in dealing with major injuries of humeral head. Its true
worth remains to be determined.”
Like holding Edison’s light bulb in your hands, unplugged, you couldn’t
be sure of what you were seeing. But, in time, surgeons would realize that
the most important shoulder surgeon who ever lived, in his first article on
the shoulder, had given a sneak preview of the future, not just for surgery
of the shoulder, but for every joint. The ability to implant foreign
materials in the body would awaken the imagination of engineers,
biologists, and surgeons, and would usher in one of the most significant
upheavals in human history—the implant revolution.