Augusto Pellegrini

Biography

• Born on June 26, 1877, in Fucecchio, Italy
• Completed his medical studies at the Department of Medicine, Institute of Advanced Practical and Specialized Studies of Florence
• 1906 – Head Surgeon at the United Hospitals of Città di Castello
• 1907-1913 Director of Marradi Hospital
• 1907-1910 Assistant at the Institute of General Surgery of Florence
• 1910 – Lecturer in operative medicine at Institute of General Surgery of Florence
• 1913 – Head of the Institute of Surgery at the University of Perugia. Head Surgeon and Director of the Mellino Mellini Hospital in Chiari until his retirement
• Died on June 11, 1958 in Chiari, Italy

Medical Eponyms

Köhler-Pellegrini-Stieda lesion (Pellegrini-Stieda disease)

Ossified post-traumatic lesions at (or near) the medial femoral collateral ligament adjacent to the margin of the medial femoral condyle

Pellegrini called attention to a traumatic ossification of the collateral tibial ligament of the knee. He reported case of calcification, involving the collateral ligament of the knee in a 36-year-old man who fell at work from a height of 2 m striking the internal knee surface on an iron vessel on October 6, 1904.

Key Medical Attributions

• Pellegrini collaborated with Giuliano Vanghetti (1861-1940) in kineplastic surgical technique to allow muscle force from a patient to be applied to prosthesis. Pellegrini advocated for limited re-amputations in achieving a functional skeletal stump.
• He promoted specific surgical equipment for appedicectomy, and forceps in gastroenterostomy for intussusception to reduce haemorrhage during anastomosis.
• He advocated for ether instead of chloroform as safer anaesthesia; and introduced disinfection of the hands solely with alcohol.
• His other works include seroprophylaxis and serotherapy for gas gangrene; establishment of mountain hospitals in treating patients with pulmonary tuberculosis; neoplastic thrombosis of the inferior vena cava in malignant tumors of the kidney; pancreatic cysts; liver resection; intervention for appendicitis within 48-hours; and abdominal radiography for diagnostic clarification for an acute abdomen.

Major Publications

• Pellegrini A. Ossificazione traumatica del ligamento collaterale tibiale dell’articolazione del ginocchio sinistro. [Traumatic calcification of the collateral tibial ligament of the knee joint] Clinica moderna (Firenze) 1905; 11: 433-439.
• Pellegrini A. Studio clinico ed anatomo-patologico sopra 91 casi di appendicite. Clinica Moderna 1905;11:254–61.
• Pellegrini A. Studio clinico ed anatomo-patologico sulla trombosi neoplastica della vena cava ascendente nei tumori maligni del rene. Morgagni 1906; 48: 1–26.
• Pellegrini A. La resezione del Fegato. Contributo clinico, statistico e sperimentale. Firenze, 1910
• Pellegrini A. Contributo allo studio della patogenesi delle cisti del pancreas. Riforma Medica 1910; 3: 57–62.
• Pellegrini A. Sulla preferenza da darsi alla narcosi coll’etere somministrato a goccie. Gazzetta Internazionale di Medicina, Chirurgia, Igiene, Interessi professionali 1913;6:125–8.
• Pellegrini A. Sieroprofilassi e sieroterapia della gangrena gassosa. Riforma Medica 1926;17:391–4.
• Pellegrini A. Tecnica generale delle amputazioni comuni secondo il Ceci e suoi vantaggi. Chirurgia degli organi di movimento 1927; 11: 479–582.
• Pellegrini A. Una pinza copro-emostatica per le anastomosi gastro-intestinali. Bollettino della Società medico-chirurgica Bresciana 1927; 4: 219–23.
• Pellegrini A. Sull’opportunità di istituire sezioni ospedaliere in montagna. Riforma Medica 1929; 8: 298–301.

References

• Porro A, Lorusso L. Augusto Pellegrini (1877-1958): contributions to surgery and prosthetic orthopaedics. Journal of Medical Biography 2007; 15(2): 68-74.
• Augusto Pellegrini il chirurgo luminare degli arti artificiali
• CIRCOLO CULTURALE [Portrait]
• Bibliography. Pellegrini, Augusto. WorldCat Identities

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