The Classic

Abstract

A Finnish orthopedic surgeon of outstanding international achievement, Kauko Vainio (Fig. 1) died on January 17. 1989 in Heinola, Finland. He was born on May 1, 1913 in Saaminki, Finland. The worldwide application of orthopedic surgery in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis began when Vainio was appointed head orthopaedist at the Rheumatism Foundation Hospital in Heinola in 1952. In 1956 he was appointed first senior lecturer of orthopedic rheumatology at the University of Helsinki. He was named Honorary Professor in 1970. Since graduating from the Helsinki University Medical School in 1939, Vainios early professional life was dominated by military field surgery, ultimately as Major during the Finlands struggle for freedom in the Second World War followed by the postwar hardship. After a decisive period of postgraduate training, he qualified as an orthopedic surgeon from the Orthopaedic Hospital of the Invalid Foundation in Helsinki. Vainios international activities began with a residency at the Anderson Orthopaedic Hospital in the United States in 1949. Long before the current challenges ofthe growing organized international university exchange programs and projects, Vainio made unbelievable efforts toward a better understanding and relationship between colleagues around the orthopedic world. with special reference to his lifes work-the operative treatment of the rheumatoid limb as an integrated part of the overall plan for the rheumatoid patient. He is said to have established a school of about 1000 residents and visitors from Belgium, Canada, Czechoslovakia, Great Britain, Israel. Japan, Norway, Poland, Romania, Sweden, and the United States at his department in Heinola until his retirement in 1975. The two-day 60th Anniversary Vainio Meeting in Heinola was attended by 50 international specialists in rheumatology. Vainio was a frequent lecturer at international congresses and meetings concerned with orthopedics, rheumatology, and hand surgery. He was a man with innumerable friends and spare-time activities. At a rather early stage in his orthopedic career, Vainio drew fundamental guidelines for the operative treatment of the rheumatoid deformities of the foot based on a thorough classification of the typical abnormalities and their pathogenesis, detailed in the following article. His subsequent publications dealt proficiently with the rheumatoid hand. RALF V. LINDHOLM, M.D., Oulu, Finland