Editorial: Endoprosthetic replacement in trauma surgery. Part 1

Prosthetic replacement of fractures is, as our patients are getting older and older, becoming an increasingly important method of treatment in traumatology and trauma orthopaedics. This special edition, which should be followed by a second part, has the title: Endoprosthetic replacement in trauma surgery. Several authors, whom I have to thank for their extensive work, went through not only the most recent, but also the historic literature to write review articles giving an overview of state-of-the-art in the therapy of fractures of or near the articular joint surface. Naturally a lot of personal experience goes into these manuscripts, so that we readers can take advantage of the many years the various authors were involved in specific topics of prosthetic replacements. This edition of Osteosynthese International, as well as the following edition, are intended as work of reference helping the unexperienced to know what to do in special questions and giving the experienced a recent review of the literature.