Ophthalmology From Ancient Persia to the Modern Era

Khodadoust, Ali A.

doi:10.1001/archopht.124.10.1481

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

References 4 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…In recent years, researchers have taken a new look at different medical topics of Qanun; for example, major role of Avicenna in the development of ophthalmology in ancient Persia ( 15 ), Avicenna’s creative approach to the urologic disorders and modern urology ( 13 ), Avicenna’s recommended treatment for tuberculosis ( 16 ), principles of clinical epidemiology in Avicenna’s Qanun ( 17 ), atheroprotector role of the spleen based on the teaching of Avicenna ( 7 ), head injuries in the Qanun of Medicine ( 18 ), a new analysis of contributions to diagnosis and treatment of cataracts from the Qanun ( 14 ), and relation between body humors and hypercholesterolemia ( 19 ). For better understanding of Avicenna’s view, at first it is necessary to have a description of intestinal anatomy and some terms used in this regard in Qanun.…”

Section: Evidence Acquisitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Avicenna’s View on the Etiologies of Intestinal Obstruction

Moradi

Balti

Minaiee

et al. 2016

Iran Red Crescent Med J

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Context:Bowel obstruction is one of the most common causes of acute abdomen. Because of heterogeneity of patients’ population and variety of causes, therapeutic strategies are not standardized, so treatment of intestinal obstruction is a surgical challenge in many cases. A traditional medicine approach could help detect some issues that were ignored by modern medicine. One of the major schools of medicine, with a history of several thousand years, is Iranian traditional medicine. In this regard, Avicenna, who lived in the medieval period, has had a great influence on the medical knowledge of the world by writing an encyclopedia of medicine entitled “Qanun of Medicine.”Evidence Acquisition:The aim of this study was to investigate Avicenna’s views on the causes of intestinal obstruction and comparing them to modern medicine views. This is a review study on an Iranian traditional textbook of medicine by Avicenna, entitled “Qanun of Medicine” (in short “Qanun”). We used Qanun in its original language (Arabic) along with its Persian translation. It consists of 5 books. Part 16 of the third book talks about intestinal anatomy and introduces some intestinal diseases such as “qoolinj” and “ilavos.” Intestinal obstruction can be a kind of “qoolinj” or “ilavos” disease. All intestinal obstruction etiologies in Qanun are searched in international and Iranian databases (Scopus, ISI, SID, and Iranmedex) and similar causes in modern medicine will be discussed in this article.Results:According to Qanun, 16 causes are involved in intestinal etiologies of bowel obstruction such as “reeh,” mucoid phlegm, abdominal hot and dry distemperament, decreased bile secretion, job, and so on while modern medicine considers some of them, for instance, volvulus, intestinal herniation, worm, intestinal pseudo-obstruction, and opiate.Conclusions:Attention to the similar causes of intestinal obstruction in modern medicine and traditional medicine is the starting point for investigation of noninvasive diagnostic and therapeutic methods that have been mentioned in Qanun. In addition, etiologies which are missed in modern medicine can open new doors to the researchers and gastroenterologists for the study, diagnosis, and prevention of the disease.

show abstract