BIRTHDAY OF PERIPHERAL NERVOUS-SYSTEM SURGERY - THE CONTRIBUTION OF FERRARA,GABRIELE (1543-1627)

SURGERY OF THE peripheral nerves has only recently achieved brilliant results thanks to technological advances in the development of neurosu rgical instrumentation. in past centuries, few surgeons made relevant contributions to this topic and Improvement was slow and difficult. Av icenna, Guglielmo da Saliceto, and Guido Lanfranchi reported some atte mpts to suture nerves directly, but Gabriele Ferrara was the first to give a lucid and succinct description of suturing of the stumps of a t ransected nerve. He described applying gentle traction on the retracte d stumps, suturing using a special needle with an eye, after immersion in a decoction of red wine, rosemary, and roses (alcoholic disinfecti on?), and, finally, insulating the sutured segment with a mixture of o ils. We are celebrating the 400th anniversary of the first edition of his fundamental work (1596-1996), and we truly esteem this surgeon, a pioneer of peripheral nerve surgery who primarily contributed to ifs p rogress.