title: Management of Subarachnoid Hemorrhage in Two Important Italian Political Leaders: A Paradigm of Ethical and Technological Evolution of Neurosurgery During the Past Half-Century.
abstract: For a curious and extraordinary coincidence, 5 of the 7 most relevant leaders of the Italian Communist Party (Partito Comunista Italiano, which was established in 1921, has been the biggest Communist Party in Western Countries) suffered a cerebral stroke. Cerebrovascular diseases afflicted also Stalin and Lenin, and a number of Presidents of the United States. We present the stories of 2 important Italian political leaders who shared both the leadership role of the major left Italian Party and the dramatic experience of a subarachnoid hemorrhage. Retracing their medical incidents, separated by 50 years of history, we show how a fatal medical disease has become neurosurgical and successfully cured thanks to the advances of neurosurgery, neuroradiology, and hospital organization. A neurologic disease that was disgraceful 50 years ago has lost any disquieting and embarrassing significance in the present time to the light of evolution of vascular neurosurgery.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Treviso Hospital - University of Padova, Padova, Italy.
authors.forename: Pierluigi
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Longatti
authors.affiliation: Department of Special Surgeries, Unit of Neurosurgery, University Hospital of Parma, Parma, Italy.
authors.forename: Ermanno
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Giombelli
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosciences, Unit of Neurosurgery, NOCSAE Modena Hospital, Baggiovara, Italy.
authors.forename: Giacomo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pavesi
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Treviso Hospital - University of Padova, Padova, Italy.
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Carteri
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosciences, Unit of Neurosurgery, NOCSAE Modena Hospital, Baggiovara, Italy. Electronic address: alberto.feletti@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Feletti
mesh_terms: D005197:Famous Persons; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049674:History, 21st Century; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D007857:Leadership; D009493:Neurosurgery / Q000941:ethics / Q000266:history / Q000379:methods; D013345:Subarachnoid Hemorrhage / Q000266:history* / Q000628:therapy*; D013672:Technology / Q000941:ethics / Q000266:history
keywords: Cerebral aneurysm; History of neurosurgery; Italian; Neurosurgery evolution; Political leaders; SAH