Paul of Aegina's surgical instruments: a complete surgical instrumentarium in the seventh century AD.

Abstract

Although current progress in surgical instruments is oriented towards stapler devices, minimally invasive instrumentation and advanced cautery tools, it definitely seems intriguing to determine what instruments were used in antiquity and to appraise their use. Most adequate information can be retrieved from manuscripts of early medical authors, of whom Paul of Aegina (AD 625-690), also being a most important surgeon, is the most recent. The aim of this study is to present surgical instruments used in his practice. Surgical instruments mentioned in the original Greek text of his monumental work named Epitome of Medicine were sought using computer software. Further, similar research was performed on other significant manuscripts of earlier Greek medical writers to determine whether some of the instruments were exclusively mentioned by Paul of Aegina. In total, 121 different surgical instruments were identified and described in detail in the Epitome of Medicine. Thirty-three instruments (27%) were exclusively reported by Paul of Aegina. In antiquity a large number of surgical instruments were already being used. Paul of Aegina described in detail a large variety of fine, as well as a substantial number of, original surgical instruments, which he himself used in a wide spectrum of surgical operations.