Top

Published in:

01-07-2009 | Editorial

What does Al-Qanun Fi Al-Tibb (The Canon of Medicine) say on head injuries?

Authors: Ahmet Aciduman, Berna Arda, Fatma G. Özaktürk, Ümit F. Telatar

Published in: Neurosurgical Review | Issue 3/2009

Abstract

A historical approach could help in the detection of some viewpoints that cannot be paid attention to or signified by a purely medical one. In this text, the important points of Ibn Sina’s (Avicenna) treatise on head injuries have been introduced in light of neurosurgery. The most detailed chapter regarding head injuries in Canon, under the title of “Fracture of the Skull,” presents rather detailed knowledge concerning skull fractures and their surgical treatments in the eleventh century and the medical paradigm of that era. Ibn Sina provided extremely systematic knowledge on head traumas along with both his observations and experiences and citations from the writings of the ancient physicians, Galen and Paul of Aegina. Regarding the treatment of skull fractures, Ibn Sina is a real successor of Galen and Paul of Aegina.

Aciduman A, Arda B (2007) On skull fractures in Ibn Sina (Avicenna)’s treatise Al-Qanun Fi Al-Tibb (The Canon of Medicine). In Papavramidou N, Kazazi D, Christopoulou-Aletra H editors. Abstract Book of 3rd Balkan Congress on the History of Medicine, 2007 29 Nov–1 Dec, Thessalanoniki, Greece, 2007, p 9

Aegina P (1846) The seven books of Paulus Aegina (translation and commentary: Adams F), Vol 2. Sydenham Society, London, pp 429–442

Albucasis (1973) On surgery and instruments (translation and commentary, Spink MS, Lewis GL). The Wellcome Institute of The History of Medicine, London, pp 698–711

Ali ibn Abbâs al-Majûsî (1294 AH/1877) Kâmil al-Sinâa al-Tibbîya [The Royal Book], vol 2. Al-Matba’at al-Kubrâ al-‘Âmire [Great Imperial Printing-office] (Bûlâq), Cairo, pp 501–504 (Arabic)

Al-Rodhan NRF, Fox LF (1986) Al-Zahrawi and Arabian neurosurgery, 936–1013 AD. Surg Neurol 26:92–95PubMedCrossRef

Apuzzo MLJ, Wang MY, Hansen B, Skiba J, Berry C, Levy ML (2002) Honored guest presentation: the legacy of Galen of Pergamon. The neurosurgeon in the arena of sport. Clin Neurosurg 49:333–370PubMed

Avicenna (1964) Liber Canonis. Georg Olms Verlagsbuchhandlung, Hildesheim, f^o.r^o 466- f^o.v^o 468

Castiglioni A (1958) A history of medicine, 2nd edn. Alfred A. Knopf, New York, pp 270–273

Galva CR (2004) Hanson, Hippocrates: on head wounds. http://www.omega.cohums.ohio-state.edu/mailing_lists/BMCR_L/2000/0193.php. Accessed 29 February 2004

10.

Goodrich JT (1994) Landmarks in the history of neurosurgery. In: Rengachary SS, Wilkins RH (eds) Principles of neurosurgery. Wolfe, London, pp 1.1–1.25

11.

Hippocrates (1952) Hippocrating writings (trans, Adams F). In: Hutchins RM (ed) Great books of the western world, 10. Hippocrates, Galen. Encyclopedia Britannica, Chicago, pp 63–70

12.

Ibn Sina (1997) Kanun der Tibb [The Canon of Medicine] (trans: Sharafkandi A), book three, part one. Soroush, Tehran, pp 102–103 [in Persian]

13.

Ibn Sina (1997) Kanun der Tibb [The Canon of Medicine] (trans: Sharafkandi A), book four. Soroush, Tehran, pp 436–437 [in Persian]

14.

Ibn Sina (1997) Kanun der Tibb [The Canon of Medicine] (trans: Sharafkandi A), book four. Soroush, Tehran, pp 573–581 [in Persian]

15.

Ibn Sina. Tahbizu’l-Mathun Tercemetu’l-Kanun [The Canon of Medicine] (trans, Mustafa Ibn Ahmed Ibn Hasan et-Tokati). Suleymaniye Library of Handwritten Works, Manuscript no: Hamidiye 1015, Istanbul, f^o 244a [in Ottoman Turkish]

16.

17.

18.

Kahya E (1995) Introduction, the life and studies of medicine and other sciences of Ibn-i Sina. In: Ibn-i Sina. El-Kanun Fi’t-Tıbb [The Canon of Medicine] (Translator: Kahya E), First book. Atatürk Kültür, Dil ve Tarih Yüksek Kurumu, Ankara, pp XIX-XLIII [In Turkish]

19.

Liu CY, Apuzzo MLJ (2003) The genesis of neurosurgery and the evolution of the neurosurgical operative environment: part 1—prehistory to 2003. Neurosurgery 52:3–19PubMedCrossRef

20.

Missios S (2007) Hippocrates, Galen, and the uses of trepanation in the ancient classical world. Neurosurg Focus 23(1):E11PubMedCrossRef

21.

Robinson V (1944) The story of medicine, reprinted. The New Home Library, New York, pp 160–164

22.

Tamani G (1988) Il Canon Medicinae di Avicenna Nella Tradizione Ebraica: le Miniature del Manoscritto 2197 della Biblioteca Universitaria di Bologna. Editoriale Programma, Padova, pp 14, 21, 48, 61 (Italian)

23.

Wilkins RH (1964) Neurosurgical classic XVII. J Neurosurg 21:240–244PubMedCrossRef

24.

Wilkins RH (1965) Neurosurgical classic XXXVI. J Neurosurg 23:117–125PubMedCrossRef

25.

Wilkins RH (1996) History of neurosurgery. In: Wilkins RH, Rengachary SS (eds) Neurosurgery, vol 1, 2nd edn. Mc Graw-Hill, New York, pp 25–36

Title: What does Al-Qanun Fi Al-Tibb (The Canon of Medicine) say on head injuries?
Authors: Ahmet Aciduman
Berna Arda
Fatma G. Özaktürk
Ümit F. Telatar
Publication date: 01-07-2009
Publisher: Springer-Verlag
Published in: Neurosurgical Review / Issue 3/2009
Print ISSN: 0344-5607
Electronic ISSN: 1437-2320
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10143-009-0205-5

Keynote webinar | Spotlight on medication adherence

Springer Medicine

What does Al-Qanun Fi Al-Tibb (The Canon of Medicine) say on head injuries?

Abstract

Keynote webinar | Spotlight on medication adherence

Springer Medicine

Abstract

Please log in to get access to this content

Other articles of this Issue 3/2009

Brain tumors and epilepsy: pathophysiology of peritumoral changes

Value of high-definition imaging in neuroendoscopy

A report of a desmoplastic non-infantile ganglioglioma in a 6-year-old boy with review of the literature

A historical analysis of severe head injury

Clinical evaluation of a lumbar interspinous dynamic stabilization device (the Wallis system) with a 13-year mean follow-up

Forsting M, Wanke I (Eds): Intracranial vascular malformations and aneurysms