Dr. Branko Krajnović - following the footsteps of the giants of spinal surgery

In the last few decades, spinal surgery has experienced a real renaissance, significantly contributed by the developing of new osteosynthetic materials and the possibility of detailed analysis of pathological changes by introducing magnetic resonance and CT scanners into everyday use.

German spinal surgery led this renaissance on a global level, with three great spinal surgeons paving the way for everyone else:

• Klaus Zielke (Deutsches Skoliosis Zentrum, Bad Wildungen), implementing his ventral derotational spondylodesis (VDS), was the first spinal surgeon in the world who really succeeded in de-rotating a deformed spine, by recognizing and solving the problem of the spine in three dimensions.
• Dr. Jürgen Harms (Karlsbad-Langensteinbach), and the working group he leads, brought numerous new methods in the treatment of degenerative diseases and spine conditions, such as PLIF, TLIF, ALIF, C1-C2 fixation according to Harms, and early operative treatment of deformities with resection of a half-vertebra already in a two-year-old. Due to his immeasurable contribution to world spinal surgery, Prof. Harms was nicknamed the “Pope of Spinal Surgery” in professional circles among his colleagues.
• Heinrich Böhm (Bad Berka), as one of the best students of Dr. Zielke and Dr. Harms, to whom he was a deputy for many years, searching for the least invasive approach to the spine with the best possible result, develops a thoracoscopic approach to the thoracic spine, develops and patents a telescopic replacement vertebra, and introduces tubular methods of treating lumbar disc herniation and stenosis.

Dr. Branko Krajnović is a long-time student of Dr. Böhm.