Urologic techniques of Serefeddin Sabuncuoglu in the 15th century Ottoman period

Abstract

A lthough surgical practice is as old as mankind, surgical techniques evolved slowly throughout the centuries. Serefeddin Sabuncuoglu (1385 to 1470 AD) is the author of the first illustrated surgical textbook in the Turkish-Islamic literature, namely Cerrahiyyet’ul-Haniyye (Imperial Surgery), which was written in Turkish. Sabuncuoglu, a pioneer of surgery, developed numerous original surgical techniques. Three original handwritten copies of Sabuncuoglu’s book were examined by Uzel1 and were republished in 1992. Serefeddin Sabuncuoglu lived in the city of Amasya in central Anatolia (now the Turkish Republic) during the brilliant Ottoman times (1453 to 1579). He had worked for 14 years in the Amasya Hospital as chief physician, a position held only by the masters. There were some renowned physicians among his relatives, before and after his period.1 His book had been written in the year 1465, when he was 80 years old. After hundreds of years Cerrahiyyet’ul-Haniyye (Imperial Surgery) was discovered by Suheyl Unver in the early 1930s, about 10 years after the collapse of the Empire.1,2 Mucerrebname (The Book of Experiences) and the Translation of Akrabadin (Medical Formulas) are the two famous examples of the known seven books of Serefeddin Sabuncuoglu.1 He was not only a physician but also a calligrapher and teacher of medicine.1 The book cites Greek, Arabic, and Persian works and includes the author’s own colored miniature drawings of the operative procedures. There are three handwritten copies of Sabuncuoglu’s book, of which he originally wrote two. One copy was written later in the 18th century. Uzel reported that each copy is different from the others, and some parts are suspected to be missing.3–5 The book consists of three chapters (cauterization treatments, surgical procedures, and fractures and dislocations), with 193 known sections, which were organized as organ confined, dealing with all types of surgery, including urology. We examined 10 sections of Cerrahiyyet’ul-Haniyye for content related to pediatric urologic considerations, genital surgery, and bladder manipulations, such as urinary retention and intravesical therapy.