[Ernst Wertheim, or the significance of the EBM of the cervical cancer].

In the field of gynecologic oncology, the beginning of the 20(th) century was dominated by a dispute between Wertheim and Schauta over the best surgical approach for cervical cancer in general, and the role of lymphonodectomy in particular. Since that time, important progress has been made with respect to diagnosis and therapy. This refers a) to the inclusion of patients with malignant diseases into clinical studies with the subsequent design and development of evidence based therapy strategies and b) on the important role of endoscopic techniques in gynecologic oncology. Some of the controversies of the "Wertheim/Schauta" era such as the "lymph node problem" are not fully resolved to date. The future will be most likely not based on diagnosis and therapy of cervical cancer, but on primary prevention with the introduction of a potent vaccination against HPV, which will be commercially available soon.