Medicine & Surgery
Surgery for bladder stones (lithotomy)
1st millennium BCE-CESushruta traditionSushruta SamhitaPan-Indian / unspecified
1,000 BCE
Described an operation to remove stones from the bladder.
- Dated
- 1,000 BCE–1000
- As scholars put it
- 1st millennium BCE-CE
- Originator
- Sushruta tradition
- Source text
- Sushruta Samhita
- Region
- Pan-Indian / unspecified
- Discipline
- Medicine & Surgery
- Evidence
- Documented
- Confidence
- Medium
- Verification
- Reference-cited
Meanwhile in the West
Lithotomy developed separately in the West.
Fair to say
A rudimentary precursor to modern urological surgery.
Path to modern innovation
Stone disease is still surgically treated.
Transmission
Ancient surgical knowledge.
Primary sources
- 4An English translation of the Sushruta samhita, based on original Sanskrit text. Edited and published by Kaviraj Kunja Lal Bhishagratna. With a full and comprehensive introd., translation of different readings, notes, comperative views, index, glossary and platesUnreviewed
- 5Sushruta SamhitaUnreviewed
References
- 1Sushruta Samhita
- 2Lock, Oxford Companion to Medicine
Further reading
Corrections and additional sources: edit IND-094 on GitHub.