Anesthesia and resuscitation in Arabo-Islamic
medicine: analytic study through Ibn Sina
by
Ben Rejeb A, Mamissi N.
Service d'Anatomie et de Cytologie Pathologiques,
Hopital Militaire, Tunis.
Tunis Med. 2000 Feb;78(2):146-51

ABSTRACT

Nervous system anatomical knowledge acquired by arabo-islamic physicians enabled them to know its physiology as represented by its excitability and its conductibility, and to understand pain physiology. Ibn Sina in his book entitled "The Canon of Medicine" specifies anesthetic drugs and their side effects. Among these anesthetic means there were opium and ice. Ibn Sina distinguished organic pain and psychogenic pain. He used sedative and analgesic and soporific drugs in the treatment of some psychological diseases such as melancholia. Moslem physicians were the first to use cold water to treat superficial burns. Anesthesia leading to heavy sleep was used for surgical operations by oral, nasal(inhalation) and rectal route. Ibn Sina indicated dosage needed to achieve three or four hour anesthesia which was necessary in an amputation surgery.

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'My beloved chloroform'
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