A Study on Head Wounds in Kitāb al-'Umda fī Ṣinā'a al-Jirāḥa by Ibn al-Quff

The aim of this study is to investigate the knowledge on head wounds contained in the Kitāb al-'Umda fī Ṣinā'a al-Jirāḥa, written by Ibn al-Quff in the thirteenth century. This study was based on a copy of the Kitāb al-'Umda fī Ṣinā'a al-Jirāḥa, printed in 2 volumes in Dā'ira al-Mā'ārif al-Uthmāniyya in Hyderabad in 1356/1937-38 and reprinted by the Institute for the History of Arabic-Islamic Science at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University. This printed copy was compared with the manuscript of İstanbul University Rare Works Library, Arabic Manuscripts, A 4749. Relevant chapters were translated from Arabic to English, after which they were thoroughly examined. Obtained knowledge is presented in the Results section and is compared in the Discussion section with other reports of this subject. The first chapter classified head wounds into 6 types: the first 3 types are conservatively treated and the remaining 3 types are surgically treated. This chapter also presents information on how to proceed when there is a head wound-related hemorrhage, which medications should be used, and which are the adequate treatment protocols. The second chapter discusses the symptoms and signs that follow head blow and fall injuries. The characteristics and noteworthy circumstances of skull fractures as well as the surgical treatment methods are included in the fifteenth chapter, which is concluded with surgery-related complications. The present study shows that Ibn al-Quff benefited from his predecessors' knowledge and made some considerable contributions to this subject.