![Alessandro Codivilla](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/72/Alessandro_Codivilla._Photograph._Wellcome_V0028682.jpg)
Alessandro Codivilla (21 March 1861 – 28 February 1912) was an
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
surgeon
In modern medicine, a surgeon is a medical professional who performs surgery. Although there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon usually is also a licensed physician or received the same medical training as ...
from
Bologna
Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nat ...
and head of the surgical department of the hospital of
Castiglion Fiorentino
Castiglion Fiorentino () is a small, walled city in eastern Tuscany, Italy, in the province of Arezzo, between the cities of Arezzo and Cortona. It is known for its annual festivals and its Etruscan archeological site.
History
Due to the overall ...
, known for his work in
orthopaedics
Orthopedic surgery or orthopedics ( alternatively spelt orthopaedics), is the branch of surgery concerned with conditions involving the musculoskeletal system. Orthopedic surgeons use both surgical and nonsurgical means to treat musculoskeletal ...
and first describing the
pancreaticoduodenectomy
A pancreaticoduodenectomy, also known as a Whipple procedure, is a major surgical operation most often performed to remove cancerous tumours from the head of the pancreas. It is also used for the treatment of pancreatic or duodenal trauma, or ch ...
.
Life
Early years and degree
He was born in Bologna, Italy, on 21 March 1861 and belonged to a humble family. His father was a
pawnbroker
A pawnbroker is an individual or business (pawnshop or pawn shop) that offers secured loans to people, with items of personal property used as collateral. The items having been ''pawned'' to the broker are themselves called ''pledges'' or ...
at the financial institution of
Monte di Pietà
A mount of piety is an institutional pawnbroker run as a charity in Europe from Renaissance times until today. Similar institutions were established in the colonies of Catholic countries; the Mexican Nacional Monte de Piedad is still in operatio ...
. He was a very bright student, first of his class in high school, and had a particular attitude towards scientific subjects. Codivilla obtained a degree in
medicine
Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pract ...
and
surgery
Surgery ''cheirourgikē'' (composed of χείρ, "hand", and ἔργον, "work"), via la, chirurgiae, meaning "hand work". is a medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a person to investigate or treat a pat ...
in 1886, and, right after that, became assistant to professor Pietro Loreta, the man whose death shot down Codivilla's possibilities for a career in teaching. Despite this, he did not let himself get discouraged and started to work at various hospitals. As noted by physician and writer , Codivilla had a tough apprenticeship in the hospitals of
Castiglione Fiorentino,
Città di Castello
Città di Castello (); "Castle Town") is a city and ''comune'' in the province of Perugia, in the northern part of Umbria. It is situated on a slope of the Apennines, on the flood plain along the upper part of the river Tiber. The city is north of ...
and
Macerata
Macerata () is a city and ''comune'' in central Italy, the county seat of the province of Macerata in the Marche region. It has a population of about 41,564.
History
The historical city centre is on a hill between the Chienti and Potenza ...
.
"Immature of studies and experience, all alone, without the guidance of a teacher or the advice of a friend, begins the hospital career, but adversely from most he is not overwhelmed by the fatal neglect of small professional centers".
Although the partial removal of the
pancreas
The pancreas is an organ of the digestive system and endocrine system of vertebrates. In humans, it is located in the abdomen behind the stomach and functions as a gland. The pancreas is a mixed or heterocrine gland, i.e. it has both an end ...
in cases of pancreatic cancer is usually associated with
Allen Oldfather Whipple or the German
Walther Kausch
Walther Kausch (17 July 1867, Königsberg – 24 March 1928, Berlin) was a German surgeon. He was involved in improvements made to the pancreaticoduodenectomy process.
Walther Carl Eduard Kausch was the second of four children. He studied medicin ...
, the first documented operation of this kind was performed by Codivilla.
Codivilla was also involved in the early development of
skeletal traction.
Subsequently, in the competition as chief surgeon of the hospital of
Bergamo
Bergamo (; lmo, Bèrghem ; from the proto- Germanic elements *''berg +*heim'', the "mountain home") is a city in the alpine Lombardy region of northern Italy, approximately northeast of Milan, and about from Switzerland, the alpine lakes Como ...
, his abilities allowed him to be among the first three chosen by the technical commission, even if at the end one of the other two was elected. However, he was hired at
Imola
Imola (; rgn, Jômla or ) is a city and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Bologna, located on the river Santerno, in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. The city is traditionally considered the western entrance to the historical ...
, where he entered not by competition, but by being directly called by administrators who had noticed that the surgical center of Castiglione Fiorentino, where he had worked before, had become a point of reference even for patients from provinces further away, such as
Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...
and
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
. He took up the job of chief surgeon in Imola on 1 January 1895 and stayed there until 1898. It was during his time there that his fame reached its peak. In August 1895 he married Emilia Ferretti, of
La Spezia: from the marriage were born three children, Alessandro and Ernesto in Imola, and Mario in Bologna.
[Codivilla 1905.]
Life in Bologna
After spending eight years in provincial hospitals, during which he devoted himself to brain surgery and to bowel surgery (a discipline that greatly fascinated him), in 1899 he was invited by the lawyer
Giuseppe Bacchelli, at the time president of the Provincial Administration, to abandon
general surgery
General surgery is a surgical specialty that focuses on alimentary canal and abdominal contents including the esophagus, stomach, small intestine, large intestine, liver, pancreas, gallbladder, appendix and bile ducts, and often the thyroid ...
to devote himself to
orthopaedics
Orthopedic surgery or orthopedics ( alternatively spelt orthopaedics), is the branch of surgery concerned with conditions involving the musculoskeletal system. Orthopedic surgeons use both surgical and nonsurgical means to treat musculoskeletal ...
and become the new director of the .
"To be true, this is the most dynamic period of his scientific life, during which he, who benefited from the advantages of a pedagogical orientation only for a short time, was forced to create by himself a method of clinical analysis and a surgical experience".
For Codivilla, leaving
visceral surgery to devote himself to a discipline he knew so little about as orthopaedics, was not easy. However, there were multiple reasons that led him to accept the post at Rizzoli: not only was Bologna his hometown, but there he had given some appreciated lessons in
uro-genital surgery that made him more famous. Another reason, however, was the illness contracted at Imola by his firstborn, since Codivilla believed that the climate of
San Michele in Bosco
San Michele in Bosco is a religious complex in Bologna, central Italy, including the church with the same name and the annexed Olivetan monastery. The buildings of the monastery were acquired in 1955 by the municipality of Bologna, to house an o ...
could somehow lead to the child's recovery. This did not happen, and Codivilla therefore found himself facing not only the untimely death of his son, but also many contrasts in the field of work because there were those who could state publicly that "the post of Director of the Institute had been entrusted to a person not suitable to support the fate of the establishment".
Physician Cesare Ghillini and his followers accused him of poor training in the field of orthopaedics. The reception given to him in Bologna, would have discouraged anyone who had not been endowed with a strong and decisive character. On the other hand, the criticisms against him were not entirely unfounded: despite his excellent training in
general medicine, Codivilla lacked some important knowledge for someone who wanted to take the path of orthopaedics.
[Anzoletti 1954, p. 54.] But, as his teacher
Alfonso Poggi wrote:
"There was nothing lacking in him: of superior intelligence, keen and analytical mind and careful judgment, he had an excellent critical sense. He was ingenious in modifying and planning surgery and instruments and possessed a truly exceptional manual dexterity of execution. He had an iron will and enviable energy in proposing as well as acting. He was an honest man in the way he lived and worked".
He took an interest in and dealt with issues in the specialty (tendon transplants,
hip dysplasia
Hip dysplasia is an abnormality of the hip joint where the socket portion does not fully cover the ball portion, resulting in an increased risk for joint dislocation. Hip dysplasia may occur at birth or develop in early life. Regardless, it doe ...
, osteoarticular tuberculosis), expanding the known concepts of the time and innovating therapeutic measures:
"He gladly faced tough problems, since they gave him a chance to perfect his surgical technique, of which he soon became a master and was able to bring to it an original contribution, as far as objectives and methods brought".
Travel in Europe and international fame
To add to his background the orthopaedic concepts that he lacked, he made many friendships especially with foreign orthopaedists; as his pupil said:
"From Pietro Panzeri, from Agostino Paci he learns the theoretical and practical elements of the radical care of the congenital dislocation of the hip. In a fleeting experience abroad he learns from Giulio Wolff the fundamental principles of functional orthopaedics and from Adolf Lorenz
Adolf Lorenz (21 April 1854, Vidnava – 12 February 1946, Sankt Andrä-Wördern) was an Austrian orthopedic surgeon.
Career
He studied medicine at the University of Vienna and subsequently worked as an assistant to surgeon Eduard Albert (1841 ...
his ingenious methods of therapy".
Codivilla then went to
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
and
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
, where medicine had made numerous advances in the field of orthopaedics and there he befriended doctors and orthopaedic experts such as
Volkmann,
König,
Bardenheuer, Albert,
Mikulicz,
Nicoladoni and
Wolff. In 1901 he became a member of the D.O.G. (), or the German Orthopaedic Society, which was founded that year and only allowed two foreigners to join; Codivilla was one of those two. In 1902 the first meeting was held, and Codivilla praised , the former director of the Rizzoli Institute, who had recently passed away. In fact, shortly afterwards, the Institute and Codivilla were mentioned in what is considered the first treatise on orthopaedic surgery by the German
Albert Hoffa. In that same period, he organized a competition in Bologna, for the best work of innovation in the field of orthopaedics, also open to foreigners, with the intent of:
"Making Rizzoli a training ground for international competitions meant refreshing its name with those who had forgotten it and making its existence known to those who still ignored it".
Many participated in the competition. There were 14 participants, of which five were Italian, English, French and American authors and nine German authors, demonstrating how well-known the names of Codivilla and Rizzoli were to experts in the medical and orthopaedic fields.
The winner of the competition was the German , awarded on 3 December 1905.
And as writer himself put it, that period was very important for Codivilla to establish himself both in the personal sphere and as the director of Rizzoli:
"Who can fail to remember him odivillaat the Presidency of that memorable Congress in Bologna, which he so expertly organized and which gave distinguished foreign guests the measure of the great development achieved in Italy by our specialty?".
In the meantime he was also appointed as a qualified university teacher in surgical clinic in 1899 at the
University of Turin
The University of Turin (Italian: ''Università degli Studi di Torino'', UNITO) is a public research university in the city of Turin, in the Piedmont region of Italy. It is one of the oldest universities in Europe and continues to play an impo ...
, later obtaining the post as teacher of orthopaedic clinic at the
University of Bologna
The University of Bologna ( it, Alma Mater Studiorum – Università di Bologna, UNIBO) is a public research university in Bologna, Italy. Founded in 1088 by an organised guild of students (''studiorum''), it is the oldest university in continuo ...
for the academic year 1900–1901. The following year, 1902, he also obtained the chair of orthopaedics. He was confirmed the teaching assignment until 1903–1904, when he was appointed extraordinary professor in orthopaedics. In 1907 the chair was opened for competitive hiring, and since Codivilla came in first place, he was hired. Overwhelmed by his many study and teaching commitments, in 1908 he resigned from the post of director of the Rizzoli Institute, maintaining, however, the title of clinical consultant.
He participated actively in congresses and meetings during this period, and as a founding member of the he convened in 1906 the III Congress in Milan and in 1907 the IV Congress in Bologna.
He was president of the between 1903 and 1904 and president of the in 1906. From 1902 he became director of the Orthopaedic Archive, the oldest Italian journal of the specialty. He was an official speaker at numerous national and international congresses: the 1st Congress of the
International Society of Surgery
The International Society of Surgery, or the Societe Internationale de Chirurgie, is an international society of surgeons founded in 1902.[Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...]
in 1905, at the 6th
Italian Paediatric Congress in 1907, at the 16th
International Congress of Medicine in
Budapest
Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...
in 1909, and at the 22nd meeting of the
Italian Society of Surgery in Rome in 1910. In May 1910 he attended the
International Congress of Medicine in
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
and took an active part in meetings and scientific discussions and worked in several clinics in the city.
Later years and death
He continued his activity intensely until the autumn of 1911, when his physical condition rapidly began to decline, due to an illness that had begun to manifest itself clearly since 1907. Codivilla, who had always had at heart the fate of Rizzoli rather than his own health, was tormented by the fear that the Rizzoli Institute could regress and that orthopaedics, cultivated with such dedication, could be changed in the future and take a different course from that which he himself advocated, and that is why he took his pupil Vittorio Putti under his wing. Codivilla died in Bologna on 28 February 1912 at the age of 51, and after his death, Putti was elected president of the Rizzoli Institute and continued the work begun by his teacher. If Codivilla is to be considered the creator of Italian orthopaedics and as the one who brought orthopaedics to the operating room for the first time, Putti is to be considered the renewer of orthopaedics and as the one who has given life to new anatomical tools and techniques.
"Sustained by an unshakable faith and an iron will, his soul turned right to the purest aims and the most sacred goals of existence, as his mind as a scientist and benefactor was aimed in search of the truth and the benefit of those who suffer".
Main publications
Codivilla's scientific production is composed of 124 publications, collected in two volumes by Vittorio Putti
[Istituto Ortopedico Rizzoli & Putti 1917.] and subsequently by Bartolo Nigrisoli and printed in 1944. Of these, 25 were in foreign languages and published in the periodicals of their respective countries.
It must be said, however, that his vast scientific output is devoted entirely to the progress of surgery and until 1899 it dealt with fundamental aspects of visceral surgery. Since 1900 it was limited exclusively to the problems of orthopaedics and
traumatology
In medicine, traumatology (from Greek ''trauma'', meaning injury or wound) is the study of wounds and injuries caused by accidents or violence to a person, and the surgical therapy and repair of the damage. Traumatology is a branch of medicine. I ...
.
Among the most significant are:
* His thesis in medicine: (1886)
* (1894)
* (1894)
* (1895)
* (1897)
* (1898)
* (1904)
* (1904)
*''On the means of lengthening in the lower limbs, the muscles, and tissues which are shortened through deformity'' (1905)
* (1910)
[Istituto Ortopedico Rizzoli & Putti 1917, pp. 1167-1181.]
See also
*
Pancreaticoduodenectomy
A pancreaticoduodenectomy, also known as a Whipple procedure, is a major surgical operation most often performed to remove cancerous tumours from the head of the pancreas. It is also used for the treatment of pancreatic or duodenal trauma, or ch ...
*
Distraction osteogenesis
Distraction osteogenesis (DO), also called callus distraction, callotasis and osteodistraction, is a process used in orthopedic surgery, podiatric surgery, and oral and maxillofacial surgery to repair skeletal deformities and in reconstructive s ...
References
External links
Some places and memories related to Alessandro Codivilla
Bibliography
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Codivilla, Alessandro
1861 births
1912 deaths
Italian orthopedic surgeons