Edoardo Porro

Edoardo Porro (1842–1902) was an Italian obstetrician and gynaecologist, mainly known for developing Porro’s operation, surgical procedure precursor of the modern Caesarean section.

Biography

Early life Edoardo Porro was born in Padua on September 13, 1842 from Anna Maria Cassola and his father Giovanni who had been transferred there as a Land Registry engineer, and he died in Milan on July 18, 1902.

These experiences lead him to realise the epoch-making operation, with which we associate the name of Porro, first performed on May 21, 1876. It consists in an excision of the uterus and adnexae, described in ‘Della amputazione utero-ovarica come complemento di taglio cesareo’ (1876), the best known of his writings. The operation was far removed from being a mere stroke of happy chance, or the fortuitous result of operative proceedings commenced under a misapprehension or mistaken diagnosis, as has been so often the case in the initial stages of advances in gynaecology.

Porro was not, however, the first to remove the gravid uterus in a living woman. This had already been done in America by Dr. Horatio Storer of Boston, in 1869, but his operation was one of necessity rather than one of election.

Porro encountered some resistance from colleagues who raised ethical questions: causing the sterility of the women undergoing this operation was considered immoral. The physician, a passionate catholic, decided to seek advice from the Bishop of Pavia, who reassured him and recognized him the right to “sacrifice a part for the sake of the whole”.

It would be appropriate to call attention to the following astounding facts: in the Vienna Hospital, from 1784 to 1884, there had not been a recovery after a Cæsarean section, and in Italy the same operation was almost always fatal. On the other hand, nearly half of Porro's operations have been successful, notwithstanding that the operation has been performed by as many as thirty-five different surgeons.

Porro’s technique has not disappeared from today’s obstetrics. It has been improved and is, sometimes, still used in emergency situations and difficult cases, when the removal of the uterus is the only way to stop the haemorrhage. The animals he operated, were able to recover, but the little bunnies did not survive because in order to avoid a spontaneous birth, the operation was performed too early on.

Thanks to these experiments the physician obtained proof that the removal of the uterus could have been a plausible therapeutic option. Porro-Müller operation - cesarean section in which the uterus is lifted from the abdominal cavity before the fetus is extracted Porro-Veit operation - cesarean section by Porro's method, in which the stump is ligated and returned to its place