Andreas Vesalius 500 years - A Renaissance that revolutionized cardiovascular knowledge

Abstract

The history of medicine and cardiology is marked by some geniuses who dared in thinking, research, teaching and transmitting scientific knowledge, and the Italian Andreas Vesalius one of these brilliant masters. His main scientific work "De Humani Corporis Fabrica" is not only a landmark study of human anatomy but also an artistic work of high aesthetic quality published in 1543. In the year 2014 we celebrated 500 years since the birth of the brilliant professor of Padua University, who with his courage and sense of observation changed the understanding of cardiovascular anatomy and founded a school to date in innovative education and research of anatomy. By identifying "the anatomical errors" present in Galen's book and speech, he challenged the dogmas of the Catholic Church, the academic world and the doctors of his time. However, the accuracy of his findings and his innovative way to disseminate them among his students and colleagues was essential so that his contributions are considered by many the landmark of modern medicine. His death is still surrounded by mysteries having different hypotheses, but a certainty, suffered sanctions of the Catholic Church for the spread of their ideas. The cardiologists, cardiovascular surgeons, interventional cardiologists, electrophysiologists and cardiovascular imaginologists must know the legacy of genius Andreas Vesalius that changed the paradigm of human anatomy.

A Arte no Ensino da Cardiologia: Relato da Experiência do Uso de Massas Moldáveis no Aprendizado da Anatomia Normal e Patológica do Coração

“…É provável que Versalius tenha travado conhecimento com seu trabalho, uma vez que escreveu o clássico De Humanis Corporis Fabrica 21 anos após o falecimento de Da Vinci. Não há registros, entretanto, de que tenha havido tal contato 3,17,18 .…”

“…A anatomia e a fisiologia do coração humano há muito tempo despertam curiosidade, dada a complexidade da morfologia desse órgão, a sua importância para a manutenção da vida e seu grande valor simbólico, derivados de características como a pulsatilidade e sua localização central no corpo humano. Na tentativa de compreender o coração ou reproduzir simbolicamente o órgão, artistas têm se utilizado do desenho, da pintura e da escultura desde a pré-história até os dias atuais [1][2][3] .…”

Milestones in Understanding Pulmonary Circulation: From Antiquity to Heart-Lung Machine

“…The precision of Leonardo da Vinci’s graphs of the heart and vessels are second to none, but they were unfortunately not known to his contemporary medical community. Interestingly, even Leonardo was so influenced by Galen that his most famous drawings of the heart still showed small pores traversing the ventricular septum [ 4 ]. We owe the true rebellion against Galen’s anatomic dogmas to Andreas Vesalius (1514–1564).…”

The Middle Ages Contributions to Cardiovascular Medicine

“…Despite being discreet and facing various religious difficulties, this first step towards an observation science marked the beginning of progress made in the Renaissance in Italy, mainly in the medical field [ 8 ] . Therefore, the great names of the Renaissance, such as Leonardo Da Vinci, Michael Servetus, Andreas Vesalius and William Harvey could dissect and observe corpses, making great advances in Medicine and especially on the knowledge of the cardiovascular system [ 9 , 21 , 37 ] , probably being great readers of Arab works on the subject. Michael Servetus in his " Christianismi Restitutio " work of 1553 talks about Ibn Al- Nafis' great advances regarding pulmonary circulation, compiling part of his work.…”