Contribution of Zahrawi (Albucasis) in Obstetrics and Gynecology: Surgical Aspect

Abstract

The period of Dark Age in which nothing worthy happened in medicine in Europe was the period of origin of Arab physicians whose pioneering work in medicine made the world to view a different site. Abu-al-Qasim Zahrawi or Albucasis (936–1013A.D.) who is regarded as the father of modern surgery, great physician as well as teacher was a renowned personality in medieval era. Al-Zahrawi was an innovative surgeon who added many original contributions, to surgery and medicine, not known to his predecessors. Al Zahrawi’s thirty volumes book Al Tasrif; covers a broad range of medical topics. It was the first independent surgical treatise ever written. His work in obstetrics and gynaecology had an enormous impact in modern medicine. He has mentioned a variety of operation in midwifery. Al Zahrawi taught the Walcher position for vaginal operations and also invented forceps used in obstetrics. He described the surgical method to treat gynecomastia, cervical polyp and clitromegaley. Despite of this, he was the first surgeon to describe ectopic pregnancy. The detail concepts of Zahrawi’s effort in obstetrics and gynaecology discuss in this article.

Keywords: Al Tasrif, Middle Ages, gynaecomastia, cervical polyp, operative obstetrics

Cite this Article

Hina Rehman, Fahmida Kousar, Contribution of Zahrawi (Albucasis) in Obstetrics and Gynecology: Surgical Aspect, Research and Reviews: A Journal of Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy (RRJoUSH) 2015; 2(2): 18–21p.