Successful radical removal of an intracranial meningioma in 1835 by Professor Pecchioli of Siena

Abstract

In 1835, Pecchioli, Professor of Surgery and Operating Medicine at the University of Siena, removed a "fungus of the dura mater" (meningioma). The lesion was a large ulcerated cranial outgrowth at the level of the right sinciput, which at operation proved to originate from the dura mater and to be eroding the bone. Surgery was radical. The patient recovered and attended for follow-up review several times in the course of 30 months, always fit and with no sign of recurrence. This procedure was later selected for the competition for the chair of Surgery at the University of Paris in 1840. In 1847, Pecchioli summarized his surgical material spanning 16 years' activity, including neurosurgical operations.