Renowned Italian Vascular Surgeon Piergiorgio Settembrini Passes Away

Renowned Italian vascular surgeon and angiologist Piergiorgio Settembrini has passed away in Milan, on the eve of his 80th birthday. The announcement of Settembrini's passing was made today by his family, who announced that the funeral will take place on Tuesday, April 9, at 3:30 PM, in the parish church of Illasi (Verona). With a long career as a researcher of diseases affecting blood and lymphatic vessels, and a specialist in general, vascular, and thoracic-pulmonary surgery, Settembrini began his teaching activities at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Milan in 1980, where he was a full professor of vascular surgery from 1990 to 2014. In 1997, he founded the Division of Vascular Surgery at the San Carlo Borromeo Hospital in Milan, of which he was the director until October 2014. President of the Emilio Trabucchi Foundation since November 2017, Settembrini was born in Villorba (Treviso) on April 9, 1944, and graduated in Medicine and Surgery from the University of Padua in 1968, discussing an experimental thesis at the Institute of General Pathology directed by Professor Aloisi. In 1970, he joined the Institute of Surgical Pathology of Padua, directed by Professor Giuseppe Pezzuoli, and in 1972, he was a scientific assistant at the Institute of Vascular Surgery and Transplants of the University of Utrecht (Netherlands) to perfect his knowledge of diagnostic aspects and reconstructive techniques of visceral arteries. Meanwhile, becoming a professor at the University of Milan, Settembrini from 1976 to 1988 was a consultant for vascular surgery at the hospital in Schio (Vicenza); from 1986 to 1997, a consultant for vascular surgery at the civil hospital of Pordenone; from 1988 at the civil hospital of Mantova; from 1989 at the civil hospital of Asola (Mantova); from 1993 at the civil hospital of Desio. From November 2007 to November 2010, he was the director of the School of Specialization in Vascular Surgery at the University of Milan and from November 2010 to November 2013, after the merger of the specialization schools of the Lombardy universities of Bicocca, Pavia, and Varese, he became the director of the Aggregated School in Vascular Surgery. Settembrini was a member and founding member of the Italian Society of Vascular Surgery; a member of the European Society for Vascular Surgery and within this society, he was the Italian representative on the Governing Council and a member of the Board of Vascular Surgery within the European Union of Medical Specialists; a member of the American Society for Vascular Surgery and within it, a member of the Committee for the Development of the American Society Abroad and the Committee for the Development of the Foundation of the same society; a member of the International Union of Angiology. Settembrini was a reviewer for the major national and international vascular surgery journals: Journal of Vascular Surgery, European Journal of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery, Italian Journal of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery, Annals of Vascular Surgery. He coordinated research on the use of low molecular weight heparin in the prevention of post-operative thromboembolism. In 1999, the National Research Council funded the study "Alteration of elastin, collagen, and their cross-links in abdominal aortic aneurysms". In 2002, he was part of the Fondi Fist research group for the "Study on the correlation between morphological and velocimetric parameters intraoperatively in the operated carotid and incidence of distant re-stenosis"; in 2003, of the Fondi First research group "Endovenous laser treatment of varicose veins secondary to incompetence of the great saphenous vein"; in 2004, of the Fondi Fist research group "Evaluation of cardiac operative risk in major vascular surgery"; in 2005, of the Fondi First research group "Complications and long-term survival in patients undergoing lower limb embolectomy. Analysis of potential risk factors"; in 2006, of the Fondi First research group "Treatment of saphenous reflux using laser. Long-term follow-up comparison between simple laser and laser + surgical crossectomy"; in 2008, of the Fondi Pur research group "Predictive factors in the emergency treatment of symptomatic carotid stenoses"; in 2012, of the research project on the treatment and care of prosthetic infections funded by the Invernizzi Foundation. Settembrini participated as a speaker at over 400 national and international congresses, always on original topics; he is the author of over 300 printed publications in national and international journals; he is the author of four monographs on surgical technique published by Utet. In 2017, he was the author of a manual on vascular surgery titled "Vascular surgery: why, when, how. A reasoned approach to decision-making through experience" involving the most renowned European and international vascular surgeons.