Hangman's fracture: a historical and biomechanical perspective.

The execution technique of hanging, introduced by the Angle, Saxon, and Jute Germanic tribes during their invasions of the Roman Empire and Britain in the 5th century, has remained largely unchanged over time. The earliest form of a gallows was a tree on which prisoners were hanged. Despite the introduction of several modifications such as a trap door, the main mechanism of death remained asphyxiation.

Safety of instrumentation in patients with spinal infection.

Object: Treatment of spine infection remains a challenge for spine surgeons, with the most effective method still being a matter of debate. Most surgeons agree that in early stages of infection, antibiotic treatment should be pursued; under certain circumstances, however, surgery is recommended. The goals of surgery include radical debridement of the infective focus.

Thoracolumbar spinal deformity: Part I. A historical passage to 1990: historical vignette.

Seven millennia of anthropological artifacts and historical tales reference human spinal deformity, its diagnosis, and treatment-many of the latter of which turned out to be worse than the deformity itself. From Hippocrates to Harrington to the 21st century, the literature base has expanded in exponential fashion to yield an imperfect but constantly improving body of evidence, experience, and understanding of this challenging disease phenomenon. This review details the pre-1990 innovations, whose failures and successes have equally contributed to the advancement and dissemination of the increasingly evidence-based field of spinal deformity.

Development of anatomic science in the late middle ages: the roles played by Mondino de Liuzzi and Guido da Vigevano.

Medical historians generally consider anatomic science, as we know it today, to have been established through the pioneering work of Vesalius during the Renaissance. Although this is largely true, detailed assessment of the scientific advances made in the late Middle Ages, though not as spectacular as those made during the Renaissance period, did pave the way and form a foundation for subsequent progress. During the two centuries of AD 1300 to 1500, several worthwhile advances occurred.

The departmental chair in Western medicine: tale of the first and foremost. Historical vignette.

The use of the term "chair" in medical literature probably started in the Late Middle Ages with the Italian anatomist Mondino de Liuzzi. History reveals the term's origin at Bologna, one of the oldest degree-granting universities in Europe. Nobody has been shown in documented literature before Mondino to have reached the level of chair, the zenith of hierarchy in Western scholastic medicine.