History Of Surgery

At least two prehistoric cultures had developed forms of surgery. The oldest for which there is evidence is trepanation,[2] in which a hole isdrilled or scraped into the skull, thus exposing the dura mater in order to treat health problems related to intracranial pressure and other diseases. Evidence has been found in prehistoric human remains from Neolithic times, in cave paintings, and the procedure continued in use well into recorded history. Surprisingly, many prehistoric and premodern patients had signs of their skull structure healing; suggesting that many survived the operation. In ancient India, remains from the early Harappan periods of the Indus Valley Civilization (c. 3300 BC) show evidence of teeth having been drilled dating back 9,000 years.[3] A final candidate for prehistoric surgical techniques is Ancient Egypt, where amandible dated to approximately 2650 BC shows two perforations just below the root of the first molar, indicating the draining of an abscessedtooth.
The oldest known surgical texts date back to ancient India about 3500 years ago and many evidences found around the Indus valley civilization show that even dentistry is practised then.Sushruta (also spelled Susruta or Sushrutha) is called as the father of surgery and the first known surgen in the world and even wrote a book and his practices reached the middle east and later to the west .In his book, he described over 120 surgical instruments, 300 surgical procedures and classifies human surgery into 8 categories. Sushruta is also known as the father of plastic surgery and cosmetic surgery. He was a surgeon from the dhanvantari school of Ayurveda. In Ancient Egypt surgeries were performed by priests, specialized in medical treatments similar to today. The procedures were documented on papyrus and describe patient case files; theEdwin Smith Papyrus (held in the New York Academy of Medicine) documents surgical procedures based on anatomy and physiology, while the Ebers Papyrus describes healing based on magic. Their medical expertise was later documented by Herodotus: "The practice of medicine is very specialized among them. Each physician treats just one disease. The country is full of physicians, some treat the eye, some the teeth, some of what belongs to the abdomen, and others internal diseases."[4]
Other ancient cultures to have surgical knowledge include [[Egypt], China and Greece. The Hippocratic Oath was an innovation of the Greek physician Hippocrates. However ancient Greek culture traditionally considered the practice of opening the body to be repulsive and thus left known surgical practices such as lithotomy to such persons as practice [it]. In China, Hua Tuo was a famous Chinese physician during the Eastern Han and Three Kingdoms era. He was the first person to perform surgery with the aid of anesthesia, albeit a rudimentary and unsophisticated form.
In the Middle Ages, surgery was developed to a high degree in the Islamic world. Abulcasis (Abu al-Qasim Khalaf ibn al-Abbas Al-Zahrawi), anAndalusian-Arab physician and scientist who practised in the Zahra suburb of Córdoba, wrote medical texts that shaped European surgical procedures up until the Renaissance. He is also often regarded as a Father of Surgery.[5]
In Europe, the demand grew for surgeons to formally study for many years before practicing; universities such as Montpellier, Padua andBologna were particularly renowned. By the fifteenth century at the latest, surgery had split away from physic as its own subject, of a lesser status than pure medicine, and initially took the form of a craft tradition until Rogerius Salernitanus composed his Chirurgia, laying the foundation for modern Western surgical manuals up to the modern time. Late in the nineteenth century, Bachelor of Surgery degrees (usually ChB) began to be awarded with the (MB), and the mastership became a higher degree, usually abbreviated ChM or MS in London, where the first degree was MB, BS.
Barber-surgeons generally had a bad reputation that was not to improve until the development of academic surgery as a specialty of medicine, rather than an accessory field.[6] Basic surgical principles for asepsis etc are known as Halsteads principles