JOSEP TRUETA: ORTHOPAEDIC SURGEON AND RESEARCHER

JOSEP TRUETAWAS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT ORTHOPAEDIC SURGEONS OF THIS CENTURY. HE BECAME THE MAXIMUM AUTHORITY ON THE PHYSIOPATHOLOGY OF BONES AND WAS ONE OF THE FIRST PEOPLE TO UNDERSTAND THE IMPORTANCE OF EXPERIMENTS ON ANIMALS IN RELATION TO ORTHOPAEDIC SURGERY.

OXFORD.1943 RAFAEL ESTEVE PROFESSOR OF ORTHOPAEDIC SURGERY

here is no doubt that Josep lived until 1965. One cannot help but During the war, he had to fight against Trueta was one of the most im- admire the intelligence, energy and te- the inertia and the reluctance to aban- 1 portant orthopaedic surgeons nacity with which he faced the difficult don outmoded forms of treatment inhe- this century. Born in in 1897, times of two wars and his long exile, rited from the First World War -during his youth was spent in the atmosphere and achieved intemational fame work- which the mortality rate and the loss of of the beginning of the 20th century, ing in a foreign country. limbs as a result of gangrene were disas- when was going through a pe- Trueta's contribution to war surgery is trous- before finally managing to im- riod of great creativity under the in- one of the best-known aspects of his plant his method of treatment. Almost fluence of great architects, painters, mu- work. His system for treating war forty years later, an emminent British sicians, sculptors and writers: Gaudí, wounds has helped thousands of people, surgeon was to write an obituary for Puig i Cadafalch, Picasso, Nonell, Gra- not only in the military confrontations Trueta in which he said that his arrival nado~,Albéniz, Casals and so many that have taken place since the Spanish in Britain just before those fateful years others. He was lucky enough to grow up civil war, but also in severe injuries was an act of God. Thanks to him, in this remarkable cultural climate and from other causes. countless lives and limbs were saved complete his training at the Barcelona The principles of his treatment, which and incalculable suffering was avoided. Faculty of Medicine. He had a brilliant Trueta had already described in his Of the many homages he received, both career as a surgeon, and at the age of 36 book during the Spanish conflict, origi- from the public and from governments he was given the post of Head of Surgi- nally published in Catalan in a Barcelo- and scientific societies, he was awarded cal Services at the Sant Pau Hospital, na edition of 1938 (Tractament de les the title of Doctor Honoris Causa by the most yrestigious hospital in Barce- fractures de guerra), was to revolution- the University of . In presenting lona at that time. ize the treatment of wounds, during the Trueta to the members of the univer- The tragedy of the , Spanish civil war and afterwards during sity, the speaker said, "The Romans which started a few years later, inter- the Second World War. In 1939, he was crown a man who has saved the life of rupted this development, and in 1939, made adviser to the British Ministry of another. Today we are honouring a man shortly before the outbreak of World Health on the treatment of the injured who has saved the lives of many". War 11, he settled in , where he in the war that seemed imminent. However, Trueta was not happy with the idea that he would only be remem- paedic surgery. His investigations and bered in the future for this aspect of his those of his school have contributed activities. In his prologue to Tracta- much to our understanding of micro- ment de les fractures de guerra he ex- scopic anatomy and the cell behaviour presses his regret that the techniques of tissues. He stands out for his studies described should have had to be tned orthopaedic centre. Laboratories, a li- into the supply of blood to the bones, out on human beings, victims of war. brary, a conference hall, etc. started to arthrosis, bone growth and deformities, So much so that "we surgeons, by the grow up around the hospital, and were bone infections, the treatment of frac- law of our profession, make war on completed in 1958. The new Nuffield tures and many other studies which war". Orthopaedic Centre (named after its pa- have come to be the basis for present Some years later, in 1949, he was made tron) co-ordinated treatment, research day knowledge of the most frequent Professor of Orthopaedics at the Uni- and teaching in a single unit. This is the diseases of the locomotor system. versity of Oxford. This branch of sur- most important complete orthopaedic Trueta opened the way in many fields gery, which deals with the treatment of centre in Great Britain and one of the and sowed the seed which has de- bone and joint diseases, was well repre- most important in the world. Genera- veloped into lively research in many sented in some countries, amongst them tions of orthopaedic surgeons, re- centres around the world. He was inter- Great Britain, from the point of view of searchers and other specialised staff nationally respected and was invited to medical attendance, but the research have been trained there, and many of speak or otherwise honoured by many being undertaken was scarce or even them have gone on to occupy profes- of the principal medical societies, some non-existent. Trueta realised that many sorships and other important posts of which even nominated him for the of this speciality's problems could not around the world. Nobel Prize for Medicine. be solved until laboratory investigation Trueta became the maximum authority When he retired, he settled once more resulted in a proper understanding of on research into the physiopathology of in his beloved Barcelona where he ex- the physiology and biochemistry of the bones. He was one of the first people to ercised his profession, though without tissues affected. Gradually, he formed understand the importance of animal the chance to continue his research di- the idea of creating a comprehensive experiments in relation with ortho- rectly, until his death in 1977. ¤