Morgagni Spine Fractures-Dislocations per Anatomen Indagatis: Since the Dawn of Modern Medicine A Taxonomy and Pathomorphology Problem

The aim of this study is to retrieve and bring back to light a part of the astonishing and painstaking work of the legendary Italian father of modern pathology Giovanni Battista Morgagni, concerning one of most discussed topics in spine surgery: spine fractures-dislocations. All the excerpts selected for this study are contained in De sedibus et causis morborum per anatomen indagatis, the summa maxima of the entire production of Morgagni. This treatise encloses the enormous experience of Morgagni in anatomic dissections and pathologic investigations. With the aid of a strict dissection and description methodology, Morgagni identified and described many of the most important aspects of spinal fractures-dislocations, from the importance of the mechanism of injury, to the relevance of ligamentous complex, or the risk of posttraumatic kyphosis and the clinical expression of spinal cord injury.