Pioneers of shoulder replacement: Themistocles Gluck and Jules Emile Péan

Abstract

Dr. Jules Emile Péan is widely credited with having performed the first total shoulder replacement March 11, 1893, at the Hôpital International in Paris. However, in his original report Péan refers to the work of Themistocles Gluck as being the inspiration for his shoulder prosthesis, a fact understated if not completely overlooked during the last hundred years. This article therefore attempts to reappraise the relative contributions of these two pioneering surgeons to shoulder arthroplasty.