Marika Daniilidou, MD. The First Female Orthopaedic Surgeon in Greece

Dr Marika Daniilidou was born in 1902 in Asia Minor. Her family was forced to immigrate to Greece, in 1922. Despite the horrendous difficulties of the era, she pursued undergraduate and postgraduate studies in the University of Berlin, Germany, and she specialized in orthopaedic surgery. In 1937, she became the first female certified orthopaedic surgeon in Greece. In 1947, she was the only female orthopaedic surgeon among the 22 founders of the Hellenic Association of Orthopaedic Surgery and Traumatology (HAOST). She became a true role model for the next generations of Greek women surgeons.

The Evolution of Orthopaedics in Greece: From Ancient Heritage to Modern Times

Greece, one of the oldest civilizations of the world, fundamentally contributed to the establishment and evolution of medicine and surgery. Undoubtedly, the foundations of the orthopaedic science are dated back to antiquity. The journey of the orthopaedic art was inaugurated with the poems of Homer and incarcerated through the practices of Hippocrates and Galen. Their deep knowledge of the musculoskeletal conditions and their treatment was generously bequeathed to humanity. This heritage acted as the catalyst for the establishment of orthopaedics in the modern Greek era. In this article, we tried to illustrate the evolution of the orthopaedic art in Greece from antiquity to modern times, reviewing the available evidence from scientific articles, books, historical manuscripts, old newspapers, and biographies. We summarize the most important events, and we identify the pioneers that shaped this new surgical branch, creating the modern Greek orthopaedic discipline.

Palatal schwannoma in a young female patient: report of a case and review of the literature

BACKGROUND

A few cases of oral schwannomas in paediatric patients have appeared in the literature so far; however, there are no studies focusing solely on paediatric oral schwannomas. The aim of this study is to report a case of palatal schwannoma in a young female patient and review the pertinent literature on oral schwannomas in paediatric patients.

CASE REPORT

A 12-year-old girl presented with a growing swelling of 2 weeks duration on the hard palate. With a provisional diagnosis of a salivary gland neoplasm an incisional biopsy was performed under local anesthesia and the histologic examination disclosed an Antony A type schwannoma.

TREATMENT

Complete surgical resection of the lesion was performed under local anaesthesia through a palatal mucosa incision and paraffin gauze was sutured on the surgical area for protection during secondary healing. The bone underlying the tumor was normal. The postoperative period was uneventful and 2 weeks after excision the gauze were removed.

FOLLOW-UP

There have been no signs of recurrence during a 18-month follow up period.

CONCLUSION

A palatal swelling in a child or adolescent may represent a neoplasm, such as a schwannoma and requires careful clinical and radiographic evaluation of the dentition.