Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

A Historical Glance at the Arabo-Islamic Surgical Instruments During the Ages

  • Surgical History
  • Published:
World Journal of Surgery Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Arabo-Islamic physicians demonstrated exceptional skill and innovation in surgery, by having used the instruments introduced by ancient Greeks and Greco-Roman surgeons. In many cases they have manufactured their own innovative designs promoting further the success of the difficult surgical operations of their era. The surgical instruments and the surgeon’s boxes, used to regularise the plethora of the metallic items, were decorated with fine designs, in order to depict the Arab civilisation. For the first time surgery became a separate medical art, while Arabo-Islamic medicine re-introduced ancient Greek and Byzantine surgery to the world.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Fig. 12

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Salah Sayour “Surgical scalpel” in Discover Islamic Art, Museum With No Frontiers, 2016. http://www.discoverislamicart.org/database_item.php?id=object;ISL;eg;Mus01;47;en

  2. Najjar J (2010) From anaesthetic sponge to nonsinking skull perforator, unitary work neurosurgery in the ancient Arabic and Islamic world. World Neurosurg 73(5):587–594

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Nasr SH (1968) Science and civilization in Islam. New American Library Incorporation, New York

    Google Scholar 

  4. Tsoucalas G, Karamanou M, Koutsilieris M, Nikolopoulos T, Laios K, Androutsos G (2016) The Arabo-Islamic contribution to the development of surgical instruments. Arch Balk Med Union 51(1):95–97

    Google Scholar 

  5. Milne JS (1907) Surgical instruments in Greek and Roman times. Clarendon Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  6. Hippocrates. De natura muliebri & De mulierum affectibus i-iii & De visu (ed. É. Littré), Oeuvres complètes d’Hippocrate, vols. 7-9. Baillière: Paris, France, 7:1852 & 8:1853 & 9:1849 (repr. Amsterdam: Hakkert, 1962)

  7. Cabana C, Bennouna M (1996) La médecine au temps des califes. Institut du monde Arabe, Paris

    Google Scholar 

  8. Meri JW (2005) Medieval Islamic civilization: an encyclopedia. Routledge, New York, p 784

    Google Scholar 

  9. Stroumsa S (1999) Freethinkers of Medieval Islam: Ibn Al-Rawandi, Abu Bakr Al-Razi and Their Impact on Islamic Thought. Brill, Leiden

    Google Scholar 

  10. Dipsy F (1996) The Ear, Nose and Throat in Rhazes’s Medicine. Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on History of Sciences: United Arab Emirates, December 1996

  11. Singer C, Underwood AA (1962) A short history of medicine, 2nd edn. Oxford University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  12. Arani MG, Fakharian E, Ardjmand A, Mohammadian H, Mohammadzadeh M, Sarbandi F (2012) Ibn Sina’s (Avicenna) Contributions in the Treatment of Traumatic Injuries. Trauma Mon 17(2):301–304

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Haq I, Khatib HA (2012) Light through the dark ages: the Arabist contribution to Western ophthalmology. Oman J Opthalmol 5(2):75–78

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Pormann PE, Savage-Smith E (2007) Medieval Islamic Medicine. Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh

    Google Scholar 

  15. Ayduz S., Sabuncuoglu O. The 15th Century Turkish Physician Serefeddin Sabuncuoglu Author of Cerrahiyetu l-Haniyye. http://www.muslimheritage.com, retrieved 08/01/2015

  16. Turgut M (2008) Semseddin-i Itaki’s contributions to neuroanatomy and embryology in the seventeenth century. Childs Nerv Syst 24(11):1281–1282

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Çetkin, M., Orhan, M., Bahşi, İ. et al. Childs Nerv Syst (2016): doi:10.1007/s00381-016-3136-9

  18. Rooney A (2012) The history of Medicine. The Rosen Publishing Group, New York

    Google Scholar 

  19. Khan SM (2013) Islamic Medicine. Routledge, New York, p 88

    Google Scholar 

  20. Essa A, Ali O. Studies in Islamic Civilization: The Muslim Contribution to the Renaissance. International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT), Herndon, 2010: 124

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Gregory Tsoucalas.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

None.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Tsoucalas, G., Sgantzos, M. A Historical Glance at the Arabo-Islamic Surgical Instruments During the Ages. World J Surg 41, 1636–1645 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00268-017-3910-1

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00268-017-3910-1

Keywords

Navigation