Renaissance-Europe-16th century

Abstract

Realistic images became available for the first time. The first major figure was Berengario da Carpi (1460-1530). He made contributions to knowledge. He stated the dura was attached all over the interior of the cranium not just at the sutures. He also noted that deterioration following traumatic hematomas was speedier the deeper within the brain the bleed had occurred and he noticed that post-traumatic neurological deficits were contralateral. Moreover, he introduced new instruments of a practical design. Specifically, he launched trepanation using a brace and bit handle. This instrument required two hands and rotated the trepan in the same direction all the time. In addition, he illustrated a crown trepan in which the bits could be interchanged. He also developed an improved elevator. He also provided the first drawing of a lenticular. The next illustrations came from Vidus Vidius (1509-1569). The illustrations in his text were elegant and realistic but some of them were impractical or unusable. Ambroise Paré (1510-1590) was a major surgeon. He designed an improved brace and bit trepan with a collar to control penetration. He also introduced instruments for expanding a cranial opening by biting up the bone and for depressing the dura to enable material to escape more easily.

Keywords: Ambroise Paré; Berengario da carpi; Gutenberg; Vidus Vidius.