Victor Moreau and his son practised the first joint résections

Victor Moreau (1746-1799) and his son (1778-1846) were surgeons in Bar-le-Duc (French Department of Meuse). Victor Moreau invented the first joint resection technique in 1782 and submitted written comments to the "Académie Royale de Chirurgie" in 1782 then 1786 and 1789. At that time amputation was the only way of saving wounded and injured patients' lives and a conservative technique was an actual revolution in bone and joint surgery. His friend Pierre-François Percy was transmitted the technique in 1792. His son improved the technique and attempted to put it into widespread use through his thesis (1803) and the most famous essay of his in 1816. However the technique did not immediately succeed till Leopold Ollier's works proved the "bone regeneration by the periosteum" and the role of the "sub-capsular periosteum resection". Nowadays in spite of prosthesis progress some joint résections can be still indicated. At last Victor Moreau can be deemed the pioneer of the functional limb surgery.