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Medieval times' influencing figure Rhaze's approach to head injuries in Liber Almansoris
Ahmet Acıduman1, Cağatay Aşkit2, Deniz Belen3
1Faculty of Medicine, Department of History of Medicine and Ethics, Ankara University, Ankara, Turkey.
Objective:
To present the chapter "On wound of the head and fracture of the head bone" of Kitāb al-Manṣūrī / Liber Almansoris, which was one of the early works of Rhazes.
Methods:
Both Arabic (Süleymaniye Manuscript Library, Ayasofya collection, Nr. 3751 and Millet Library, Feyzullah Efendi collection, Nr. 1327) and the Latin (Basileae, 1544) texts of Kitāb al-Manṣūrī / Liber Almansoris were studied, and the 26th section of the 7th chapter, entitled "Fī al-shajja kasr al-'aẓm al-ra's / De plagis capitis et fractura cranei / On wound of the head and fracture of the head bone" was translated into English and English text created.
Results:
Rhazes underlined removing bone fragments in depressed and separated fractures of cranium along with protection of the dura, but he did not describe any surgical technique in this chapter.
Conclusions:
Galen's contemplation for the care of the dura with its integrity and as well his proposal to remove the bone fragments for preventing the dura from injury were the golden standards at the time that Rhazes also followed in the treatment of skull fractures.
