The branch of medicine called ‘Surgery” is concerned with the treatment and diagnosis of injuries and diseases as well as the repair of pathological conditions that are amenable to manual and operative procedures that involve cutting, suturing, abrading, and laser. The correction of deformity and physical changing of body tissues and organs is also within the scope of surgery. The term “surgery” originated from Greek words “cheir” which means hand and “ergon” meaning work. The words were combined to come up with the Greek term “cheirorgia” which means handwork or work done with the hands (MedicineNet.com, 2008).
The nature of the procedure used can serve as the basis for identifying the subdivisions of surgery as a branch of medicine. The subdivisions are general surgery which deals with all manner of cases, orthopaedic surgery refers to the correction of deformity, and plastic surgery pertains to the restoration of parts by building up or transfer of tissues. Another basis for the subdivision of surgery is according to the region involved; intracranial or brain surgery, aural or ear surgery, cardiovascular or heart and blood vessel surgery, and abdominal surgery (MedicineNet.com, 2008).
Early Greek surgeries were practiced in the battlefield, usually done to remove weapons like arrows from bodies, binding of wounds, and support broken bones and limbs (Rogers, 1987). The surgery from classical Greece was said to be derived from ancient Egyptians who performed operations including castrations, lithotomy or removal of bladder stones, and eye operations. To relieve pressure from an infection, Greeks also incised boils and cut holes in the skull. Dental surgeries are also done by classical Greeks to remove infected teeth (Ancient Greek Medicine, 2007).
It is a tradition to the Greek culture to consider the practice of opening the body and perform surgical operations. Greek physicians such as Hippocrates in 460-370 B. C. and recognized as the “Father of Medicine”, studied, practiced, and even made writings on Greek surgery and medicine, however, did not progressed until the rise of the Alexandrian school in 233-230 B. C. Herophilus, a Greek anatomist and surgeon, later discovered the study of human anatomy which served as another important basis of surgery (MedicineNet. com, 2008).
Greek medical treatises collectively known as the Hippocratic corpus compiled master’s notes, handbooks, and lecture materials and served as proof for the existence of practice of surgery in Classical Greece (Agelarakis, 2006). Sanskrit medical writings also witnessed the Greek compilations on surgery. Leonides was able to remove granular swellings of the neck through surgical methods and do flap-amputations, like what Heliodorus did. Antyllus, on the other hand,provided direction for the carotid artery and he was also able to ligatured vessels prior to the cutting procedure.
Paulus of Aegina published books that were also devoted to operative surgery procedures and surgical diseases. In contrary to general lateral operation, local depletion of stone was based from Paulus ideas and this served as a substitute to mesial. In addition to this, anastomosis as aneurism diagnosis, amputation of cancerous breasts, and treatment of fractured patella were also all based from Paulus’ principles (Michler, 1972). Fractures were diagnosed by crepitus while dislocations were treated through traction and countertraction together with other manipulations.
Wounds were incised, punctured, lacerated while those cuts of the head were sewed. Amputations and removal of tumors and enlarged lymphatic glands were also successfully done during this era. Hydrocele and abdominal dropsy were healed through the process of tapping with a trocar and omental hermia were already understood and further removed by scotum operation (Rogers, 1987). To remove iron particles under specified circumstances, the Greeks employed magnets to extract the foreign bodies from patients.
Lithotomy and ophthalmic suregry with the extraction of cataract, and obstetric operations like caesarean section were also practiced in classical Greece. Ointments and other external applications are also given to the patients undergoing surgery even in the ancient times. Ingredients include ghee or clarified butter, honey and some significant metals, particularly arsenic, zinc, copper, mercury, and sulphate of iron, to mention a few, also became popular to classical physicians (Michler, 1972).