PubMed · 11626142
The source did not provide an abstract. Follow the original record for more information.
Explore connections, maps & timelines
C Agostoni. [Not Available].. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11626142/
Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.
KEEP EXPLORING
The aim of this article is to present the techniques applied by Byzantine physicians for inguinal hernia repair and to note their influence on the development of surgery after that time. A study and analysis of the original texts of the Byzantine medical writers, written in Greek, and containing the now mostly lost knowledge of the ancient Hellenistic and Roman periods, was undertaken. Two Byzantine physicians, Aetius of Amida (6th century A.D.) and Paul of Aegina (7th century A.D.), described two techniques for confrontation of inguinal hernia, namely the surgical removal of the prolapsed peritoneum and the cauterization of the groin. These methods were probably derived from the texts of earlier Greek surgeons to which they added their own keen observations. The study of Byzantine medical and literary texts proves that the surgical techniques for inguinal hernia were practiced in Byzantine times and influenced later Arabian and European surgery, thus constituting significant roots of surgery.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
It is a common belief that laboratory investigation processes were developed after the 16th century and that before that time no attempts were made to attain a diagnosis by investigating material coming from the human body. In this paper we present data extracted from Byzantine codices that support the following thesis: The idea of examining human excrement for diagnostic purposes has its roots in the Roman and Byzantine eras. The lack of technological means was no obstacle for the doctor to create an "examinational" mind, i.e., to try to correlate the macroscopic findings in the excrement with the pathophysiological mechanism that induced it, using only the human senses.