Italian centre Gonzalo Canale is facing more than six months on the sidelines after suffering a fractured right leg in the 19-14 defeat to Argentina in Rome, the Italian rugby federation said on Sunday.
Canale was forced off in the final minutes of the game and replaced by Tommaso Benvenuti, before being immediately taken to hospital.
The La Rochelle centre spent the night in hospital where he has been diagnosed with a "fracture of the tibial plateau on the right leg", according to the statement issued by the federation (FIR).
It added that Canale, one of Italy's most-experienced players, who picked up his 86th cap on Saturday, was facing a functional recovery time of around six months.
That would rule the Argentine-born back out of Italy's Six Nations campaign in February and March.
News that makes sense
Your trusted source for staying up-to-date with the world around you. Get free daily news updates and analysis, straight to your inbox.
Italy enjoyed perhaps their best Six Nations campaign last season after securing wins over France and Ireland and coming within seven points of what would have been a momentous victory over England.
However that was mitigated by an unspectacular November series - following on the back of a poor June tour to South Africa - with the Azzurri losing heavily to Australia (50-20), missing out against Argentina and claiming only one unconvincing win (37-31) over an ill-disciplined Fiji, who were at one point reduced briefly to 11 men.
