Carlo Zini passed away on February 12, 2022, in Parma (Italy) where he had been living with his wife Wilma. The otorhinolaryngological community shares the pain of his family. He was born on August 15, 1932. After graduation and specialisation, he pursued further training in Bordeaux where he learned the modern microsurgical techniques from Portmann. After a period spent in Sassari, he returned to Parma where he could give his important contribution to the progress of otology and neurotology, leaving an indelible mark on the history of our discipline. A countless number of otologists came to observe him in the operating room. He was a very precise surgeon: nothing was left to chance.
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Fabio Piazza
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ACTA Otorhinolaryngologica Italica
In Memoriam of Carlo Zini
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In Memoriam
2022-06-30
2022-07-26
2022-07-26
2022-07-26
304
1
Fabio Piazza
2022/06/30
304
Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery ASST Carlo Poma Mantova, Mantua, Italy
1827-675X
304
In Memoriam of Carlo Zini
https://www.actaitalica.it/article/download/2244/840
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ACTA OTORHINOLARYNGOLOGICA ITALICA 2022;42:304




In Memoriam of

Carlo Zini
Carlo Zini passed away on February 12, 2022, in Parma (Italy) where he had
been living with his wife Wilma. The otorhinolaryngological community
shares the pain of his family.
He was born on August 15, 1932. After graduation and specialisation, he pur-
sued further training in Bordeaux where he learned the modern microsurgical
techniques from Portmann. After a period spent in Sassari, he returned to Par-
ma where he could give his important contribution to the progress of otology
and neurotology, leaving an indelible mark on the history of our discipline. A
countless number of otologists came to observe him in the operating room. He
was a very precise surgeon: nothing was left to chance.
In 1967 he described the technique of indirect microtympanoscopy that al-
lowed to observe posterior mesotympanum, aditus and attic by means of
stainless-steel micro-mirrors. He developed a bioprosthesis (Parmatymp®)
to reconstruct the tympanic membrane. In the 1960s he published a personal
method to prepare an ossicular prosthesis from dental roots (french otologists
called it “le dent qui fait entendre”). Later on, he started to reconstruct the
ossicular chain with homologous costal cartilage that was harvested from the
costochondral region of young donors. Moreover, he devoted himself passion-
ately to surgery of the bony tube and of the Eustachian tube isthmus.
In the field of neurotology, Zini obtained brilliant results in the field of vertigo,
vestibular schwannoma and neuro-vascular conflicts. In 1984 he built a device
for facial nerve pneumatic monitoring. In 1990 he developed a retractor that
allowed to perform selective vestibular neurectomy by means of the retrolaby-
rinthine approach with a minimal dural incision in the proximity of the internal
acoustic meatus (“a minima” retrolabyrinthine approach). He was one of the
pioneers in the field of cochlear implants and auditory brainstem implants in
Europe.
In the late 1990s he described the so-called “chemically assisted dissection”,
performed by means of the intraoperative use of sodium 2-mercaptoethane-
sulfonate, which has been shown to be particularly useful in cholesteatoma
surgery.
Carlo Zini was one of the founders of EAONO and a giant of European otol-
ogy and neurotology. He was also a man of exceptional human qualities, as I
could verify, having worked alongside him for 25 years.

                                                              Fabio Piazza
                      Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery
                                   ASST Carlo Poma Mantova, Mantua, Italy
                                                                                        © Società Italiana di Otorinolaringoiatria
                                                                                        e Chirurgia Cervico-Facciale


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