Historical essay: An Arabic surgeon, Ibn al Quff's (1232-1286) account on surgical pain relief

Abstract

This is a review of Ibn al Quff's account of surgical pain relief in his surgical book Al Omdah, in which he mentioned the word anesthetic (Al moukhadder) and the involvement of physician (al tabbaaee) to give mixture of drugs to prevent pain in a surgical condition to relieve the patient from pain or to make surgical management possible. Hich indicated one rare occasion to such description in Arabic medical texts. Methods of administration of these drugs were inhalation, ingestion and by rectal suppositories. The drugs used in anesthetic sponges include all the drugs that are recorded in the modern literature of anesthesia. They are as follows: opium, mandrake, Hyocymus albus, belladonna, Cannabis sativus, Cannabis indica, wild lettuce. The anesthetic sponge, mentioned in many references as an inhalation method, may be of symbolic value to surgery.

Keywords: Anesthetic sponge; Arabian anesthesia; Ibn El Quff; Ibn al Koff; Ibn al Kuff; Ibn al Quff; Medieval Medicine; Natural Syria; Pain relief; health preservation Surgery.

Figure 1

Artistic impression of Arabia anesthetic sponge, in which the surgeon operates and the tabbaee keeps the sedoanalgesic soaked anesthetic sponge over the nostril and squeezes the liquid which is absorbed by the mucous membrane of nose and mouth (published with the permission of Pan Arab anesthesia group)

Figure 2

Karak Castle, where Ibn al Quff was born. During his time, it was in Syria, and now it is in Jordan

Figure 3

The first page of Ibn al Quff's manuscript of his surgical book al umdah with his full name and a short biography

Figure 4

Chapter 13 in which Ibn al Quff explains the causes of surgical pain and about pain relief. He indicates the presence of al tabbaee to administer analgesia and consultation in ninth word, second line of the fourth paragraph