Filippo Civinini (20 September 1805 – 11 May 1844) was an Italian

anatomist Anatomy () is the branch of biology concerned with the study of the structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old science, having its ...

from

Pistoia Pistoia (, is a city and ''comune'' in the Italian region of Tuscany, the capital of a province of the same name, located about west and north of Florence and is crossed by the Ombrone Pistoiese, a tributary of the River Arno. It is a typi ...

. He is remembered for contributions made in the field of

osteology Osteology () is the scientific study of bones, practised by osteologists. A subdiscipline of anatomy, anthropology, and paleontology, osteology is the detailed study of the structure of bones, skeletal elements, teeth, microbone morphology, funct ...

, in particular the

cranium The skull is a bone protective cavity for the brain. The skull is composed of four types of bone i.e., cranial bones, facial bones, ear ossicles and hyoid bone. However two parts are more prominent: the cranium and the mandible. In humans, the ...

. He studied medicine in Pistoia and

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 ...

, where in 1825 he earned his degree. In 1834 he was appointed anatomical dissector, and two years later attained the chair of anatomy at the

University of Pisa The University of Pisa ( it, Università di Pisa, UniPi), officially founded in 1343, is one of the oldest universities in Europe. History The Origins The University of Pisa was officially founded in 1343, although various scholars place ...

. He composed the first catalogue on the collections of anatomy at the Museum of

. In 1835 Civinini provided the first description of a

neuroma A neuroma (; plural: neuromata or neuromas) is a growth or tumor of nerve tissue. Neuromas tend to be benign (i.e. not cancerous); many nerve tumors, including those that are commonly malignant, are nowadays referred to by other terms. Neuroma ...

that causes a painful foot condition known today as

Morton's metatarsalgia Morton's neuroma is a benign neuroma of an intermetatarsal plantar nerve, most commonly of the second and third intermetatarsal spaces (between the second/third and third/fourth metatarsal heads; the first is of the big toe), which results in t ...

. He made the discovery during the dissection of a

cadaver A cadaver or corpse is a dead human body that is used by medical students, physicians and other scientists to study anatomy, identify disease sites, determine causes of death, and provide tissue to repair a defect in a living human being. Stud ...

, which he described in an article called "''Su un nervoso gangliare rigonfiamento alla pianta del piede''" (On the neural ganglion swelling on the sole of the foot).

Associated eponyms

* ''Civinini's canal'': the anterior canaliculus of

chorda tympani The chorda tympani is a branch of the facial nerve that originates from the taste buds in the front of the tongue, runs through the middle ear, and carries taste messages to the brain. It joins the facial nerve (cranial nerve VII) inside the facia ...

, or ''iter chordae anterius''. * ''Civinini's ligament'': the pterygospinal ligament. * ''Civinini's process'': The

pterygoid processes of the sphenoid The pterygoid processes of the sphenoid (from Greek ''pteryx'', ''pterygos'', "wing"), one on either side, descend perpendicularly from the regions where the body and the greater wings of the sphenoid bone unite. Each process consists of a medi ...

bone or ''processus pterygospinosus''. * ''Foramen of Civinini'': Foramen pterygospinosum.

References

NCBI
Discovery of Plantar Neuroma

(biography)
Mondofacto
(definition of eponyms) Italian anatomists 1805 births 1844 deaths Academic staff of the University of Pisa People from Pistoia {{italy-med-bio-stub