Vertigo: Pars prima

Although not strictly connected to vascular surgery, vertigo and its symptoms are often an epiphenomenon of vascular pathologies. With this in mind and based on their reading of a French 17th-century treatise on vertigo, the authors outline a 'history of vertigo' by Charles Le Pois (1563-1633), professor and rector of the extinct University of Pont-a-Mousson. In the treatise, the French academic describes and comments on a clinical case of vertigo, reported in the chapter entitled 'De vertigine simplici'. He attempts to explain the etiopathogenesis and physiopathology of the symptoms. The presentation then moves to the 18(th) century where we meet the philosopher and physician, Julien Offray de la Mettrie (1709-1751), the author of a treatise on vertigo. In his work, La Mettrie gives a minutely detailed description of the symptoms associated with vertigo, and was the first to divide the pathology into the various types of vertigo.