Leonardo Gigli

Leonardo Gigli (1863 to 1908) was an Italian surgeon and obstetrician, born in Sesto Fiorentino near Florence, who graduated in medicine and surgery in Florence in 1889. After the death of Domenico Chiara in 1891 he worked in Paris under Tarnier, then in London and in Wroclaw under Heinrich Fritsch, where he first designed the wire saw made by the Haertel company that became known as the Gigli saw. He used it for lateral pubiotomy, called Gigli's operation, to assist obstructed labour, and in 1897 described its use for cutting other bones. He directed the Santa Maria Nuova Hospital in Florence from 1899, resigned in 1901 for private practice and scientific work, and died of pneumonia in 1908 at the age of 44. Gigli's operation is rarely performed today, but the saw is still used in amputations, cranial flaps and orthopaedic osteotomies.