Evaluation, diagnosis and treatment of oral poisoning in four Persian medical texts

Background and Purpose:

Gastrointestinal poisoning is a common type of poisoning caused by ingested foods, medicines and toxic substances. Considering the valuable sources of Persian medicine, this research has focused on classification, diagnosis and treatment of medical emergencies in gastrointestinal poisoning during the 3rd to 7th centuries AH in Persian Islamic medical texts in comparison with modern medicine.
 

This is a review study, in which relevant Farsi, Arabic and English keywords were searched in in the books Firdaws al-Hikma fi al-Tibb, Al-Qanun fi al-Tibb, Al-Hawi fi al-Tibb and Zakhireye Khwarazmshahi. Retrieved contents were taken notes of, filed and then studied and analyzed. Finally, the extracted results were summarized using a two-person team with traditional medicine and the history of medical sciences specialties, and results were reported.

The main results of this research indicate that traditional medicine physicians categorized gastrointestinal poisoning based on temperament, type of toxic substance (plant, animal and mineral), lethality and the essence of the toxic substance. Diagnosis methods included examination and close investigation of patients, body odor, examination of vomited substance and using pets and birds. In treatment of poisoning, general methods like taking quick actions, vomiting, drinking milk, enema or injection of fluid into the lower bowels; and specific treatments based on the type of toxic substance were used. Pharmacological and non-pharmacological measures were considered.

The findings of the present research show that the introduced patterns in the historical medical texts of Iran in classification, diagnosis and treatment of gastrointestinal poisoning have a lot in common with the modern views and approaches. Therefore, it is possible to achieve newer and easier methods with fewer side effects in treatment of gastrointestinal poisoning and promotion of present methods by reviewing traditional texts and researches and conducting clinical trials on properties of traditional medicines and contents.