title: [Historical aspects of a frequent anal disease: haemorrhoids].
abstract: In this report the authors outline the main historical aspects of haemorrhoids after a thorough review of the literature. The first texts concerning haemorrhoids are the ancient Egyptian papyruses. The twenty centuries of the history of haemorrhoids are marked by multiple pathogenetic theories, and of these the vascular and the sliding of the anal mucosa are still valid. From an analysis of the historical texts and the most recent publications, we deduce that the principles of therapy are substantially unchanged since the days of Hippocrates. In conclusion, we can say that, as in ancient times, the therapy of haemorrhoids is based on three fundamental approaches: surgical treatment, ambulatorial non-surgical treatment and medical treatment.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Discipline Chirurgiche ed Oncologiche, Sezione di Chirurgia Oncologica, Università degli Studi di Palermo.
authors.forename: Salvatore
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Vieni
authors.forename: Federica
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Latteri
authors.forename: Nello
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Grassi
mesh_terms: D006484:Hemorrhoids / Q000266:history*; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century