Croce improved the instruments for trephination, and published classic woodcuts depicting the operation, including the first illustration of a neurological surgery operation actually taking place. The work is also important for Croce’s descriptions of cranial and cerebral diseases. In hundreds of woodcuts of instruments and procedures Croce illustrated all of the instruments used before and during his own time. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Translated into Italian with expanded text as Cirugia universale e perfetta di tutte le parti pertinenti all’ottimo chirurgo (1574). Digital facsimile of the 1584 Italian translation from Google Books at this link. 

For biography, bibliography, and interpretation see Antonio Di leva & Jeffrey V. Rosenfeld, "The legacy of Renaissance surgeon Giovanni Andrea Dalla Croce on the history of military surgery and neurosurgery," Journal of Neurosurgery, 53, Issue 3 (2022).