Riva-Rocci, Scipione

SUBJECT AREA: Medical technology

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b. 7 August 1863 Almese, Piedmont, Italy

d. 15 March 1937 Rapallo, Liguria, Italy

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Italian physician, inventor and developer of the mercury sphygmomanometer for the measurement of blood pressure.

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After graduating in medicine and surgery in 1888 from the University of Turin, he was appointed Assistant Lecturer at the University under Forlanini. In 1893 he followed Forlanini to Pavia, where for twenty-eight years he was Director and Head Physician of the Ospedale di Varese. From 1908 until 1921 he was also Lecturer in Paediatrics. He invented the sphygmomanometer in 1896 and its use was greatly encouraged by the support of Cushing, who visited Pavia in 1901 and was convinced of its value in the monitoring of anaesthesia, particularly in connection with intracranial surgery.

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Bibliography

1896, "Un nuovo sfigmomanometro", Gazzetta Medica, di Torino 447.

Further Reading

J.F.Fulton, 1946, Harvey Cushing: A Biography, Springfield, Ill.

MG