1958

1957-1959

The earliest descriptions of the technique have always been attributed to Ralph Bingham Cloward, George W. Smith, and Robinson. However, in the French literature, this procedure was also described by others during the exact same time period (in the 1950s). At a meeting in Paris in 1955, Belgians Albert Dereymaeker and Joseph Cyriel Mulier, a neurosurgeon and an orthopedic surgeon, respectively, described the technique that involved an anterior cervical discectomy and the placement of an cortical iliac crest autograft in the intervertebral disc space. In 1956, a summary of their oral presentation was published, and a subsequent paper-an illustrated description of the technique and the details of a larger case series with a 3.5-year follow-up period-followed in 1958. The list of authors who first described ACDF should be completed by adding Dereymaeker's and Mulier's names. They made an important contribution to the practice of spinal surgery that was not generally known because they published in French ¹⁾.

In 1958, Cloward ²⁾ pioneered the ventral approach to the cervical spine. With his technique, it was easy to remove the disc and fuse the level by placing a bone dowel between the vertebral bodies.

Several modifications have been described to the original procedure developed by Smith and Robinson for ACDF ³⁾

In 1958, Niemeyer described a more selective approach to the hippocampus and amygdala through the middle temporal gyrus ⁴⁾.

The Odom criteria, established in 1958, are a widely used, 4-point rating scale for assessing the clinical outcome after cervical spine surgery ⁵⁾.

In 1958, four visionary Swiss surgeons shared a common goal: to conduct research into bone healing within a structured, coordinated study group. It was effectively the birth of the AO (Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Osteosynthesefragen—literally translated, “working group for bone fusion issues”).

Year over year, its scope has expanded to keep pace with rapid developments in musculoskeletal surgery and patient care, and in 1984 the AO Foundation was formally established.

see AOSpine.

In 1958 Gillingham popularized wrapping with cotton or muslin ⁶⁾. An analysis of 60 patients showed that 8.5% rebled in ≤ 6 mos, and the annual rebleeding rate was 1.5% thereafter ⁷⁾ (similar to the natural history)