Scipione Riva-Rocci
Scipione Riva Rocci (7 August 1863 in
Biography
Riva Rocci was born on 7 August in Almese in 1863. He graduated in
In 1928 he retired from his medical positions due to a neurological condition,[2] probably encephalitis lethargica, which he may have contracted from a patient or an autopsy during an epidemic in 1921.[3] He spent the last years of his life in ill-health with paralysis agitans, and died on 15 March 1937 in Rapallo.[2] He was buried in the small cemetery of San Michele di Pagana.[3][4]
Invention of a sphygmomanometer
Riva Rocci's major contribution to medicine was the invention of an easy-to-use version of the mercury sphygmomanometer which measured brachial blood pressure.[1][2][5] The key element of this design was the use of a cuff that encircled the arm - previous designs had used rubber bulbs filled with water or air to manually compress the artery or other technically difficult methods to measure pressure.[5]
In 1896, Riva Rocci published his work describing the new sphygmomanometer in the Gazzetta Medica di Torino.[6] In total he published four papers on the design and usage of the device between 1896 and 1897.[7][8][9] His design included every-day objects such as an inkwell, some copper pipe, bicycle inner tubing and a quantity of mercury.[10] Riva Rocci measured the peak (systolic) blood pressure by observing the cuff pressure at which the radial pulse was no longer palpable. This approach did not allow the measurement of diastolic blood pressure, although it was possible to estimate mean arterial pressure with the device, albeit with some difficulty.[6][11]
The American neurosurgeon, Harvey Cushing (1869-1939) visited Riva Rocci at Pavia in 1901 and made drawings and was given an example of his device.[2] On his return to the US he made a similar device with some improvements and used it successfully in Johns Hopkins Hospital, most notably in intracranial surgery.[11] Cushing, with support from Theodore Janeway in New York City and George Crile in Cleveland, played a major role in popularizing Riva Rocci's mercury sphygmomanometer.[12] Subsequent improvements to the device included the use of a wider cuff (the original was only 5 cm wide) and the use of Korotkoff sounds to determine systolic and diastolic blood pressure.[13] Riva Rocci always refused to patent his invention and did not make any financial gains from its widespread use.[3]
Memorials
- Almese, his native town, has dedicated the local middle school to him.[3]
- Riva Rocci's initials RR are used to indicate blood pressure measured with his technique.[citation needed]
References
- ^ S2CID 28857847.
- ^ PMID 9134286.
- ^ a b c d "Diabetologia - Scipione Riva Rocci". archive.is. Archived from the original on 2007-10-08. Retrieved 2016-07-24.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ "Scipione Riva Rocci's tomb - Himetop". himetop.wikidot.com. Retrieved 2016-07-24.
- ^ ISBN 9780521282239.
- ^ S2CID 72472506.
- ^ Riva-Rocci, Scipione (1896). "Un nuovo sfigmomanometro". Gazzetta Medica di Torino. 47: 1001–1017.
- ^ Riva-Rocci, Scipione (1897). "La tecnica della sfigmomanometria". Gazzetta Medica di Torino. 48: 161–172.
- ^ Riva-Rocci, Scipione (1897). "La tecnica della sfigmomanometria". Gazzetta Medica di Torino. 48: 181–191.
- ISBN 9780313376061.
- ^ .
- S2CID 25828356.
- )
External links
- www.whonamedit.com (biography)
- http://himetop.wikidot.com/scipione-riva-rocci-s-tomb (photographs of Riva-Rocci's tomb)
- https://www.woodlibrarymuseum.org/museum/item/14/riva-rocci-sphygmomanometer (photographs of a Riva-Rocci sphygmomanometer)