The illnesses of Carlo di Ferdinando I de' Medici: a second opinion

CER4473
2012 Vol.30, N°1
PI 0006, PF 0011
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PMID: 22274610 [PubMed]

Received: 24/01/2011
Accepted : 21/06/2011
In Press: 06/03/2012
Published: 06/03/2012

Abstract

OBJECTIVES:
To offer a second opinion on the recently published retrospective diagnosis of Cardinal Carlo de` Medici (1596-1666), a prominent member of the grand ducal family then ruling Tuscany.
METHODS:
Retrospective diagnosis of historical figures is difficult and at times controversial, even with modern technology. It is based on contemporaneous medical descriptions and historical reviews, inherited iconography, and rarely – as in the case of the Medici of Florence – skeletal assessment, completed with radiological, histological and even immunological studies. Modern clinical work is often complemented with a second opinion obtained from specialists in the relevant fields. It is this type of second opinion that our collaborative Australian and Italian team, comprised of an orthopaedic/spinal surgeon, a rheumatologist and two medical historians, now offers.
RESULTS:
The authors concur with the first opinion`s diagnosis of Klippel-Feil syndrome in Carlo de` Medici, but disagree with the diagnoses of tuberculosis (Pott`s disease) and rheumatoid arthritis. We find evidence, instead, for a psoriatic-DISH arthropathy with involvement of Klippel-Feil syndrome.
CONCLUSIONS:
A psoriatic-DISH arthropathy, previously described by the present authors as the `Medici syndrome`, was commonly found in the males of the primary branch of the family. The diagnosis of this condition in Cardinal Carlo de` Medici represents its first identification in a male of the secondary (grand ducal) branch of the family.