Alessandro Codivilla

Alessandro Codivilla (21 March 1861 – 28 February 1912) was an Italian surgeon from Bologna and head of the surgical department of the hospital of Castiglion Fiorentino, known for his work in orthopaedics and first describing the pancreaticoduodenectomy.

As noted by physician and writer Corrado Tumiati [it; fr; ru], Codivilla had a tough apprenticeship in the hospitals of Castiglione Fiorentino, Città di Castello and Macerata.

[1]"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".

[2]Although the partial removal of the pancreas in cases of pancreatic cancer is usually associated with Allen Oldfather Whipple or the German Walther Kausch, the first documented operation of this kind was performed by Codivilla.

However, he was hired at Imola, 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 and Rome.

[5] "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".

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".

[7] 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.

[8] He took an interest in and dealt with issues in the specialty (tendon transplants, hip dysplasia, 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".

[9] 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 his ingenious methods of therapy".

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.