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Published on: November 6, 2019
Albucasis (936-1013), a pioneer in tonsillectomy
Narges Tajik1, Maryam Mohseni Seifabadi2, Nasrin Musakazemi2
1Department of History of Medicine, School of Persian Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Background:
The surgical removal of tonsils has been performed from as long as three thousand years ago, as mentioned in Hindu literature. The role medieval physicians like Albucasis played in the history of tonsillectomy is very important. This article aims to show the contributions Albucasis made to this procedure.
Methods:
The present library-documentary research relied on the third chapter of the book al-Tasrif, Albucasis' surgical text, as the main information source.
Results:
Albucasis discussed the conditions necessary for tonsillectomy, he introduced three surgical tools for this operation, and he also described the surgical method. Albucasis succeeded in inventing and discovering new tools and methods for tonsillectomy.
Conclusion:
The comparison of the tonsil surgery introduced by Albucasis and those of earlier and later surgeons reveals Albucasis' superiority in both operation performance and equipment used. Some of his methods are comparable with approaches to operations used in the 20th century.
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