Overview

Five European orthopedic and trauma surgeons set up the organization on 29th of June 1995 in Amsterdam. The founding members were Jeffrey Hallett (United Kingdom), Arnbjorn Rodt (Norway), Cees van der Jagt (Netherlands), Ove Fasting (Norway), and Kurt Brulhart (Switzerland). In late 1995, on a second meeting, it was the unanimous decision to invite Augusto Sarmiento to be first president of the organization. Professor Sarmiento accepted this position in December 1995. Only on a third meeting in 1996 the name of the organization was finalized to be Association for the Rationale Treatment of Fractures (ARTOF). In 1996, the Constitution and Bylaws were outlined, ARTOF was then registered on 13th of August 1997 in London as Limited Company based in the UK. In December 2002 ARTOF was registered as a Charity with the Charity Commission for England and Wales. Aim of the society was to build an independent platform of discussion to identify the optimal therapeutic strategy for patients following trauma. In this respect, the focus was set on scientifically proven concepts following the strict criteria of evidence based medicine. Knowledge concerning non-surgical and surgical treatment of fractures is carried into the community of orthopedic and trauma surgeons via educational courses.