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Wounds of the head, neck, shoulders and chest
were described in the "Edwin
Smith Papyrus", the oldest
known text referring to treatments of injuries.
Avicenna, born 980 in Bokhara to the son
of a Persian Tax Collector, was the most accomplished of all muslim
philosophers and physicians. He wrote over 150 works in all, ranging
from geography to musical technique as well as medicine. He started
writing his 'Canon of Medicine' in about 1012. This includes the
following passage on wound management:
'There are 3 principles to follow when treating
loss of continuity in fleshy tissues. (1) Stabilize the part which
is insufficiently firm, arrest the bleeding, and if there be a discharge
strive to reduce its amount. (2) make the immobilised part consolidated
by administering appropriate medicines and suitable articles of
food. (3) prevent sepsis as much as possible. If all three cannot
be achieved, concentrate on the two which can. You know how the
arrest of bleeding is achieved. Consolidation of the part is secured
by opposing the edges of the wound, and by applying dessicant remidies,
and by taking agglutinative food.'
Avicenna also
described wound healing by primary & secondary methods and the
presence of granulation tissue:
'...when they
[ulcers, wounds] are of small size and there is so little loss of
substance that the margins can be reunited, the union being secured
by theing that no oil or dust gets in between the margins during
the process of healing... If there is loss of substance, then healing
will necessarily be by scarring... If the loss of substance be of
flesh, as happens with deep wounds, we cannot hurry the cicatrization.
The first thing to do is to encourage the formation of fleshy granulations...'
Gruner OC. A Treatise on the Canon
of Medicine by Avicenna. London, 1930. Luzac & Co.
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Avicenna's Canon of Medicine |
