[A century since the publication of Grossich's paper in Zentralblatt für Chirurgie--an innovation in the field of antisepsis].

This review recalls the first presentation of a modified method for the use of iodine tincture in preoperative disinfection of skin and minor injuries by the Rijeka physician Antonio Grossich (1849-1926), which was published in "Zentralblatt für Chirurgie" 100 years ago. It did not have to wait long before it received acclaim from 20 other medical journals, and in 1909, from the audience at the International Surgery Congress held in Budapest for an extended presentation on the subject. In the following 2 years, surgeons all over the world published their experiences with this optimised technique in over a hundred journals. Doctor Grossich put these articles together and published them with his commentary in 1911 in a monograph entitled "Meine Präparationsmethode des Operationsfelds mittels Jodtinktur" (English: "My personal approach for the preparation of the surgical field using iodine tincture"). Although iodine tincture was also used by other physicians and surgeons at that time, Grossich optimised the method for its use, and he was the first to publish his experience in surgical practice.