The burn disease: a disease of great value in the cultural heritage of plastic surgery.

In 1961 I began my career as a plastic surgeon at the Department of Plastic Surgery of the Civic Hospital of Padua. In those years, the department was headed by its founder, Prof. G. Dogo, who had just gained his independence to work within the discipline of surgery. Its key feature consisted, at its core, in an entirely new section for those times: the Burn Centre, later known as the "Intensive Care Unit for Acute Burn Victims." At that time, Prof. Masellis, the founder of the Mediterranean Burn Club, was also working among us. The department was still dealing with the disastrous traumatic pathologies that the Italian population had from the Second World War. The beds were still largely occupied by patients suffering from war injuries caused by bomb explosions and fires. These were the reason for the creation of the Burn Centre and subsequently for the promotion of the establishment of a department of plastic surgery. I therefore had the opportunity to see a multitude of different clinical cases and to experiment with the various operation techniques known to plastic surgeons at the time. But it was not only the surgical aspect that fascinated me; I was fascinated by the burn as a disease - the extraordinary problems of their pathophysiology and the logic of treating them, generally and locally - no longer as had been suggested by vague suppositions, but by suggestive hypotheses based on clinical and experimental observations. Over the years, the skills involved in plastic surgery have expanded: its numerous therapeutic procedures have been applied to the treatment of many other diseases. But the burn-as-disease was always at the top of my cultural interests. It always had something to teach me, whether clinically, scientifically or ethically. Yes, even ethically, because the burn patient, like few others who are ill, truly challenges his physician's ethical core and moral strength. The contents of this piece of writing stem from "opinions" that the author has had in the practice of his profession while "listening and reading" everything that has happened to him during his work as a plastic surgeon over half a century. These opinions formed bit by bit; only now am I attempting to verify and justify them, intentionally seeking the bibliographic testimony and opinions of others.