Abstract
Background:
Since
diseases and surgeries could be very painful, the annihilation of pain
has been the most important goal of physicians. The history of
Iranian-Islamic medicine includes distinguished physicians that
attempted to find different methods of anesthesia. This research aims at
reviewing approaches for anesthesia throughout the history of the
Iranian-Islamic medicine, in order to identify a variety of drugs used
during that period.
Methods:
In
this research, the information was mainly collected from medical
history, traditional literature and various search engines (e.g. Google
Scholar, PubMed, Medline, Scopus, SIDS and NoorMags). The search
keywords were Anesthetic, Tbnj (sedation), Tnvym (sedative), and
Hypnotic. Finally, a detailed analytical study was performed on all
notes and the results were presented.
Results:
Mohammad
Ibn-Zakaria Al-Razi (known to the Western world as Razes) in the 10th
century was the first physician who used general inhalation for
anesthesia in surgeries. Drugs used to relieve pain and anesthesia can
be divided into two categories: (i) single drug and (ii) compound drugs.
Usually, these are consumed by eating, drinking, inhalation, or as
topical. Drugs such as Hemlock, Mandrake, Henbane, Hyocyamus,
Mandragora, Loiseuria, Opium Poppy, and Black Nightshade were used.
Beyond these herbs, Aghili (18th century) in his book
“Makhzan al-adviyah” also explained the topical application of ice for
pain management. The choice for the type of medication and its form of
consumption is commensurate to pain and the speed by which the drug has
an effect. Anesthesia was usually done in two ways: (i) using a
substance called “Mokhader” which was consumed via the mouth or nose,
and (ii) “Tnvym” which means putting a patient to sleep to block the
sensation of pain. Typically, anesthesia methods and drug recipes were
kept as secret to prevent misuse and abuse by unauthorized people.
Conclusion:
Based
on our study, Islamic physicians proposed inspiring methods in using
drugs for anesthesia, which in turn greatly contributed to the
Iranian-Islamic civilization.
Keywords: Anesthesia, Pain, History of Medicine, Medicine, Traditional
