title: The early days of surgery for stones in the bladder.
abstract: Man has suffered from bladder stones since the earliest times. The oldest specimen of a bladder stone so far discovered was obtained at the excavation of a grave of a boy of about 16 in an ancient Egyptian burial ground and was dated at around 4800 BC. Of the triad of 'elective" operations first performed by our surgical forefathers--circumcision, trephination of the skull and cutting for the stone--only the last was for a purely surgical indication and not for religious or ritual reasons; it may safely be pronounced as the most ancient operation performed for a specific surgical pathology.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, University of London, Guy's Campus, London, SE1 1UL.
authors.forename: Harold
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ellis
mesh_terms: D049669:History, 16th Century; D049670:History, 17th Century; D049690:History, Ancient; D049691:History, Medieval; D006801:Humans; D001744:Urinary Bladder Calculi / Q000601:surgery*; D013520:Urologic Surgical Procedures / Q000266:history*