Andrea Vaccà Berlinghieri (3 February 1772 – 6 September 1826) was an Italian
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 ...
born in
Montefoscoli, a village in the municipality of
Palaia. His older brother, Leopoldo Vaccà Berlinghieri (1768–1809), was a noted
Tuscan military figure. His father, Francesco Vacca Berlinghieri (1732-1812), was also a noted physician and writer of medical texts in Tuscany.
In 1787 he traveled to
Paris with his brother in order to study medicine. Here he was a pupil to surgeon
Pierre-Joseph Desault (1744–1795) and
obstetrician Jean-Louis Baudelocque
Jean-Louis Baudelocque (30 November 1745 – 2 May 1810) was a French obstetrician who studied and practiced medicine in Paris. He was born in Heilly, in the French region of Picardy.
Baudelocque is known for making obstetrics a scientific discip ...
(1745–1810). Two years later he visited
London, being interested in the surgical work of
John Hunter (1728–1793). Following his return to Italy, he received his degree in medicine and surgery at the
University of Pisa.
In 1799 he revisited Paris, where he furthered his studies with Baudelocque,
Philippe-Jean Pelletan
Philippe-Jean Pelletan (4 May 1747 – 26 September 1829) was a French surgeon born in Paris.
Son of a surgeon, Pelletan was a member of the ''Académie Royale de Chirurgie'' and of the ''Académie des Sciences''. He was a professor to the ''F ...
(1747–1829),
Alexis de Boyer
Alexis Boyer (1 March 175723 November 1833) was a French surgeon, born in Corrèze.
He was the son of a tailor, and he obtained his first medical knowledge in the shop of a barber surgeon. When he moved to Paris, he had the good fortune to att ...
(1757–1833), and
Antoine Dubois
Baron Antoine Dubois (19 June 1756 – 30 March 1837) was a French surgeon born in Gramat, department of Lot. As the consultant-surgeon, and head of maternity services to Napoleon and his wife the Empress Marie Louise of Austria, Dubois delivere ...
(1756–1837). After his return to
Pisa
Pisa ( , or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for its leaning tower, the cit ...
, he became a professor of surgery, an event that is considered to be the start of a new surgical tradition at Pisa. His reputation as a surgeon attracted patients from all over Europe to Pisa, including the Irish aristocrat
Margaret King, who had to dress as a man to gain admission to the lectures.
Berlinghieri was a close friend of
anatomist Paolo Mascagni (1752–1815).
Berlinghieri was the first surgeon in Italy to perform Hunter's procedure for
aneurysms of the
popliteal fossa.
Selected written works
* ''Reflessioni sul trattato di chirurgia del Sig. Begnamino Bell''. two volumes. Pisa, 1793) (Referring to
Edinburgh surgeon
Benjamin Bell (1749–1806).
* ''Traité des maladies vénériennes'' (Paris 1800). This text was later revised by Pierre-Philippe Alyon (1758–1816).
* ''Mémoire sur la structure du péritoine et ses rapports avec les viscères abdominaux''. (Mémoires de la Société médicale d’émulation de Paris, 1800, T. III. paper presented at this society).
* ''Storia dell' anevrisma etc''. Pisa, 1803. (with
John Hunter's procedure for aneurysm of the
popliteal fossa).
* ''Memoria sopra il metodo di estarre la pietra della vesica orinaria per la via dell' intestine retto''. Pisa, 1821. French translation by Blaquière, Paris, 1821. (Advocating the recto-vesical cut for stones).
* ''Sulla litotomia nei due sessi, Quarta memoria''. Pisa, 1825. French translation by Morin, Genèva, 1826. (Describing the median cut — For women, Berlinghieri advocated the vesico-vaginal cut).
Who Named It Andrea Vaccà Berlinghieri, bibliography
References
* "Cenni Biografici Intorno Andrea Vaccà Berlinghieri", in: "Giornale di Chirurgia Pratica" Trento 1827, Tomo Quarto e Anno Primo, Page: V-XXXIII
Andrea Vaccà Berlinghieri
@ Who Named It
{{DEFAULTSORT:Berlinghieri, Andrea Vacca
Academic staff of the University of Pisa
Italian surgeons
1772 births
1826 deaths
People from the Province of Pisa