Were pneumothorax and its management known in 15th-century anatolia?
Jean-Marc Gaspard Itard, a student of René Laennec's, first recognized pneumothorax in 1803, and Laennec himself described the full clinical picture of the condition in 1819. Treatment of pneumothorax was not begun as a standard procedure until World War II, but we think that Serefeddin Sabuncuoglu recognized the condition and applied treatment in the 15th century.Sabuncuoglu (1385-1470) was a surgeon who lived in Amasya (in Anatolia). In 1465, he completed Cerrahiyyetül Haniyye (Imperial Surgery), the 1st illustrated surgical textbook in the Turkish-Islamic medical literature. We describe the highlights of the book's recommendations concerning treatment of thoracic trauma, particularly of pneumothorax. We reproduce 2 of the colored miniature illustrations and add our comments regarding the advice of Sabuncuoglu. Most notably, he advocated "mihceme," a cupping therapy, as a simple technique of thoracic aspiration.
Department of Thoracic Surgery, Pamukkale University, 20070 Kinikli, Denizli, Turkey. skaya@pau.edu.tr
Seyda Ors
SO
Kaya
Mustafa
M
Karatepe
Turgut
T
Tok
Gokhan
G
Onem
Nese
N
Dursunoglu
Ibrahim
I
Goksin
D049668:History, 15th Century; D006801:Humans; D008488:Medical Illustration / Q000266:history; D011030:Pneumothorax / Q000266:history* / Q000601:surgery; D019616:Thoracic Surgical Procedures / Q000266:history*; D014421:Turkey