Contributions of Medieval Islamic Physicians to the History of Tracheostomy

• DOI: 10.1213/ane.0b013e3182884313
• Publication Date: 2013-03-22T21:19:49Z
• Authors: Samad E. J. Golzari; Zahid Hussain Khan; Kamyar Ghabili; Hamzeh Hosseinzadeh; Hassan Soleimanpour; Rasoul Azarfarin; Ata Mahmoodpoor; Saeid Aslanabadi; Khalil Ansarin
• Keywords: 03 medical and health sciences; Tracheostomy; 0302 clinical medicine; Medicine, Arabic; Arab World; Physicians; Humans; Islam; History, Medieval; 3. Good health

Tracheostomy was first described by Greco-Roman physicians, including Paulus of Aegina. Medieval Islamic clinicians extended the Greco-Roman ideas with substantial contributions to the field of surgery, including tracheostomy. Although Al-Zahrawi (936-1013 CE) stated that he had not heard or read of any Islamic physicians having performed tracheostomy, there is evidence that many prominent Islamic surgeons did practice this lifesaving procedure during medieval times. Throughout the Islamic Golden Age, Muslim physicians advanced the practice of tracheostomy with many modifications of the procedure, instrumentation, and adjuvant medicinal prescriptions.