Triage and Management of the Injured in World War I: The Diuturnity of Antoine De Page and a Belgian Colleague

A system of orderly triage of the injured in World War I and a protocol for early wound management of war injuries were introduced by Antoine De Page in 1914 at the beginning of World War I. The five steps of the De Page protocol (coined by the author as Ordre de Triage) were to be followed in detail by the French and Belgian armies. A younger Belgian colleague, Robert Danis, was recruited to aid in the management of the ambulance corps to transport the injured from dressing ("clearing") stations to centers of more advanced care, away from the Franco-Belgian front. Danis, also from Brussels, introduced the principles of osteosynthesis of bone a little over a decade later. De Page and Danis, both surgeons, tendered immense carry-forwards for future generations.