On permanent retraction of the fingers, according to Dupuytren.

During a lecture on clinical surgery that he gave at the Hôtel-Dieu Hospital in Paris in 1831, Guillaume Dupuytren established the nature of "Permanent retraction of the fingers", that has been designated Dupuytren's contracture since the end of the XIXth century. The nosological individualization of this soft tissue rheumatism is analyzed based on a review of Dupuytren's lectures and of writings by XIXth century practitioners; the other two conditions included in Dupuytren's diathesis, namely Ledderhose's contracture and Peyronie's disease, are also discussed.