Lascaratos J, Assimakopoulos D
Department of History of Medicine, Medical School, Athens University; and the Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Medical School, University of Ioannina, Greece.
Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2000 Apr;122(4):579-83. doi: 10.1067/mhn.2000.94249.
We present the techniques of various operations on the larynx and pharynx (incision of abscesses of the tonsils, tonsillectomy, tracheotomy, uvulectomy, and removal of foreign bodies) found in the Greek texts of Byzantine physicians. The techniques of these operations were the first to be so meticulously described and were compiled from the texts, now lost, of the ancient Greek physicians. These medical texts, which followed and enriched the Hippocratic, Hellenistic, Roman, and Galenic medical traditions, later influenced medieval European surgery, either directly through Latin translations or indirectly through works of Arab physicians.
