1. A Case of Sudden Death in Decameron IV.6: Aortic Dissection or Atrial Myxoma?
- Author
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Toscano F, Spani G, Papio M, Rühli FJ, and Galassi FM
- Subjects
- Aortic Dissection diagnosis, Aortic Aneurysm diagnosis, Heart Neoplasms diagnosis, History, Medieval, Humans, Male, Myxoma diagnosis, Aortic Dissection history, Aortic Aneurysm history, Death, Sudden, Heart Neoplasms history, Medicine in Literature, Myxoma history
- Abstract
Giovanni Boccaccio's Decameron contains a novella that details the sudden death of a young man called Gabriotto, including a portrayal of the discomfort that the protagonist experienced and a rudimentary autopsy performed by local physicians. The intriguing description of symptoms and pathologies has made it possible to read a 7-century-old case through the modern clinical lens. Thanks to the medical and philological analysis of the text-despite the vast difference between modern and medieval medicine-2 hypothetical diagnoses have emerged: either an aortic dissection or an atrial myxoma., (© 2016 American Heart Association, Inc.)
- Published
- 2016
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