Vittorio Putti

Vittorio Putti (born 1880), director of the Rizzoli Orthopedic Institute (Istituto Ortopedico Rizzoli) in Bologna.

He graduated from the University of Bologna and took the position of assistant to Professor Codivilla, remaining in this post for several years. During his assistantship, he produced a number of valuable scientific works.

His works on bone transplantation and arthroplasty using a free aponeurotic flap (a keynote report at the French Surgical Congress in 1913) elevated him to the ranks of major orthopedic surgeons. After the death of Professor Codivilla, Putti became the director of the Rizzoli Orthopedic Institute in 1914, and in 1919 he received the chair of orthopedics at the University of Bologna. At present, Putti is one of the most brilliant and talented representatives of orthopedic surgery. The Rizzoli Orthopedic Institute under Codivilla was one of the best in the world. At present, this institute has no equal, both in terms of its equipment and its activities. A mass of work comes out of the Rizzoli Institute, belonging not only to the permanent staff of the institute but also to a considerable number of foreign doctors who use the institute's material for their work. All of Putti's own works and the majority of his students' works find a place in the journal he founded in 1917, "La Chirurgia degli organi di movimento" (Bologna). More than 30 of Putti's own works have been published in this journal.

Putti's greatest attention is drawn to questions regarding the treatment of the consequences of infantile paralysis, arthroplasty, kinematic amputation, kinematic prostheses, malignant bone tumors, and the treatment of congenital dislocation of the hip joint. On the latter issue, Putti, relying on his extensive experience, is the initiator of treating congenital dislocation of the hip joint from the earliest age, as soon as the diagnosis is made. At present, Putti is an honorary academician of the Academy of Sciences in Bologna, vice-president of the International Orthopedic Society, and others. In recent years, Soviet doctors have frequently visited Putti's institute and have always received the most cordial welcome.