title: Account of Haly Abbas regarding the management of hydrocephalus in children: a text from medieval times.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To present the text on hydrocephalus from Haly Abbas's book Kitāb al-Malikī / Liber Regius (The Royal Book), which was accepted as a classical textbook in the Eastern and Western worlds for a long time.
  
  
  METHODS
  The Arabic (Süleymaniye Manuscript Library, Murad Molla Collection, Nr: 1482 and Būlāḳ, 1294 /1877) and the Latin (Venice, 1492) versions of the related chapter was translated and compared to create an English text. Additionally, relevant literature was reviewed in detail.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The text on hydrocephalus in Haly Abbas's The Royal Book virtually resembles Paul of Aegina's work. For hydrocephalic cases where the fluid collects between skin and pericranium, and pericranium and bone, Haly Abbas had made little change in surgical intervention; for the third type, skin incision, he preferred a T-type incision instead of an H-type. Like Paul of Aegina, Haly Abbas also did not advise any surgical intervention for the cases of hydrocephalus, where fluid accumulation is between bone and the dura mater.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Haly Abbas's approach to hydrocephalus was as brave as that of his predecessors Antyllus, Oribasius, and Paulus, although the cases they dealt with were almost all cephalic hematomas. Although his chapter on the treatment of water accumulation in the head contains surgical interventions in extracranial hydrocephalic conditions, his account on hydrocephalus is extremely precise and gives adequate detail as in other chapters in his book.
authors: Department of History of Medicine and Ethics, Faculty of Medicine, Ankara University, Ankara, Turkey. Electronic address: aciduman@medicine.ankara.edu.
authors: Ahmet
authors: A
authors: Aciduman
authors: Department of History of Medicine and Ethics, Faculty of Medicine, Ankara University, Ankara, Turkey.
authors: Berna
authors: B
authors: Arda
authors: Department of Ancient Languages and Literature, Sub-Department of Latin Language and Literature, Faculty of Languages, History and Geography, Ankara University, Ankara, Turkey.
authors: Cağatay
authors: C
authors: Aşkit
authors: T.C. Sağlık Bakanlığı, Türkiye Kamu Hastaneleri Kurumu, Ankara İli Kamu Hastaneleri Birliği 1. Bölge Sekreterliği, Ankara Numune Eğitim ve Araştırma Hastanesi, Neurosurgical Clinics, Ankara, Turkey.
authors: Deniz
authors: D
authors: Belen
authors: Department of Eastern Languages and Literature, Sub-Department of Arabic Language and Literature, Faculty of Languages, History and Geography, Ankara University, Ankara, Turkey.
authors: Kemal
authors: K
authors: Tuzcu
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D049691:History, Medieval; D006801:Humans; D006849:Hydrocephalus / Q000266:history* / Q000628:therapy*; D007492:Iran; D009462:Neurology / Q000266:history*; D009493:Neurosurgery / Q000266:history*
keywords: Haly Abbas; History of medicine; Hydrocephalus; Liber Regius