Epilepsy, Theories and Treatment Inside Corpus Hippocraticum

Title:Epilepsy, Theories and Treatment Inside Corpus Hippocraticum

Volume: 23 Issue: 42

Author(s): Gregory Tsoucalas*, Konstantinos Spengos, George Panayiotakopoulos, Theodoros Papaioannou and Marianna Karamanou

Affiliation:

• Hellenic Reference Center for Alzheimer Disease and Related Syndromes, Alykes, Volos,Greece

Keywords: Hippocrates, Corpus Hippocraticum, epilepsy, trepanning, neurosurgery, herbal medicine, ancient Greece.

Abstract: An archaic surgical procedure, the skull trepanning, was introduced in ancient Greece to treat brain derangement, and endured until the 18th century with the same use. Hippocrates recognized epilepsy as a common entity and categorized it as a brain disorder, removing any divine origin. He proposed that the excess of black bile and mucus is due to the infiltration of air inside the blood circulation (veins). For him it was a hereditary disease that could be cured. Thus, he suggested a non-invasive treatment based on herbal potions, and a surgical treatment by using the most advanced operation of the era, the open brain drilling, known as trepanning, or trephination, setting the beginning of neurosurgery.

Cite this article as:

Tsoucalas Gregory *, Spengos Konstantinos , Panayiotakopoulos George , Papaioannou Theodoros and Karamanou Marianna , Epilepsy, Theories and Treatment Inside Corpus Hippocraticum, Current Pharmaceutical Design 2017; 23 (42) . https://dx.doi.org/10.2174/1381612823666171024153144