Pass away in September 28 in 2013, at age 92, the icon and hero of World Hand Surgery Dr. Harold Kleinert.
I have had the opportunity to be a student of this great teacher for two years in the United States, I can say that it was undoubtedly an accomplished researcher, kindly man, surgeon and Professor of the Hand Surgery.
Kleinert was known mainly for going against the concepts of Bunnell: "No man's land". Bunnell said there was nothing to do when the injuries occurred in the hand flexor tendons. That is, he believed that the maximum to do was remove the adhesions and perform tendon graft, this concept persisted from 1930 to 1960.
In 1967 , Kleinert and his first ''Fellow'', Joseph Kutz, change this concept and history by saying: "Yes, there is man's land''. They successfully performed primary repair of injured flexor tendons and gave early mobilization, restoring the normal function of the hand of their patients. Causing national controversy in USA. Followed advances in microsurgery, flap tissue transfer, reimplantation of limbs, fingers transfer, rehabilitation and hand transplant.
Kleinert was born in rural area of Montana. It was the best student in his class at Temple University in 1946. As Surgeon General, in 1953 began research on sutures in small vessels at the University of Louisville in Kentucky. In 1961, he established one of the first training centers in Hand Surgery in the USA. In 1962, performed the first revascularization of thumb. Over the past 40 years Kleinert Kutz Hand Care Center has become synonymous with quality in Hand Surgery and Microsurgery and compulsory itinerary for more than 2.000 fellows and visitors from around the world, that there received education as global names Kutz, Lister, Tsai, Atasoy, Gupta, Mac Cabe, Breidembach, Wolf, Acland, Tuna,Sunil, Tien, among others.
Harold Kleinert waived great attention to the Hand Surgery in Brazil. Was six times lecturing in different parts of the country. The last time was in 2001 on the 21st Brazilian Congress of Surgery of the Hand in Gramado, RS, chaired by one of his fellows ''most brasilian renowned", Osvandré Lech.
"We lost a great thinker, but he left us a great legacy".
Harold E. Kleinert and his ‘'Fellow'', Antônio L. Severo (97/98).