Two different approaches regarding hydrocephalus treatment in the Islamic World during the Middle Ages.

Abstract

This study aimed to present the sections allocated to hydrocephalus in the works of Ibn Hubal al-Baghdādī and Ibn al-Quff, to include them and determine their position in the history of medicine by discussing relevant literature. A printed copy and a manuscript in İstanbul Süleymaniye Manuscript Library, Fatih Collection, nr. 3632 of Ibn Hubal's Kitāb al-Mukhtārāt fī al-Ṭibb, and a facsimile of a printed copy and a manuscript in Istanbul University Rare Works Library, Arabic Manuscripts, A 4749 of Ibn al-Quff's Kitāb al-'Umda fī Ṣinā'a al-Jirāḥa, were used. The chapters on hydrocephalus in both works have been translated to English and obtained knowledge was determined based on relevant literature. Hydrocephalus was discussed under the title "On swellings and water occurring outside the skull and on the 'uṭāsh of the child and on water collection in the skull" in the third volume of Ibn Hubal's work and "The sixth chapter on the treatment of water which collects in the heads of children" in the 19th article of Ibn al-Quff's work. Ibn Hubal's and Ibn al-Quff's knowledge and approach to hydrocephalus match the knowledge and approaches of their predecessors. Compared with Ibn Hubal, Ibn al-Quff provided more systematic and detailed information on hydrocephalus. Like other writers of the Islamic world in the medieval times, Ibn Hubal and Ibn al-Quff accept definitions and classifications of hydrocephalus by Greco-Roman writers.