The early history of Dupuytren's disease.
Dupuytren's disease may have originated among the Vikings of northern Europe. Possible association of the disease with the Scottish bagpipe-playing MacCrimmon clan and the Papal Sign of Benediction also are examined. The evolution of pathologic understanding and the advent of surgical treatment of the disease in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries in Europe and North America are reviewed in detail.
Elliot
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Hand Surgery Division, St. Andrew's Centre for Plastic Surgery, Chelmsford, Essex, United Kingdom.
D004387:Dupuytren Contracture / Q000266:history* / Q000601:surgery; D013502:General Surgery / Q000266:history; D049670:History, 17th Century; D049671:History, 18th Century; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049690:History, Ancient; D006801:Humans