Role of homoeopathy in the field of surgery

Dr  P  Chakraborty 

SURGERY
Surgery is an art. It is that branch of medicine which is concerned with the repair, Removal or replacement of the diseased tissue; in other words, any cutting, suturing and repairing of human tissues.

History of surgery

• Prehistoric cultures had developed forms of surgery. Evidence has been found in prehistoric human remains from Neolithic times.
• Recent excavations of the construction  workers of the Egyptian pyramids also led  to possible evidence of brain surgery.
• A prehistoric surgical techniques is ancient Egypt, where a mandible dated to approximately 2650 BC shows two perforations just below the root of the first molar, indicating the draining of an abscessed tooth.
• Indian   physician Sushruta, the “Father of Surgery”, who taught and practiced surgery on the banks of the Ganges around 600 BC. Much of what is known about Sushruta is contained in a series of volumes he authored, which are collectively known as the Susrutha Samhita.
• Other ancient cultures to have surgical knowledge include ancient Greece – the Hippocratic Oath was an innovation of the Greek physician.
• Hippocrates – and ancient China. ancient Greek culture – traditionally considered the practice of opening the body to be repulsive and thus left known surgical practices such as lithotomy.
• In China Hua Tuo –         was a famous Chinese physician during the Eastern Han and Three Kingdoms era. He was the first person to perform surgery with the aid of anesthesia, some 1600 years before the practice was adopted by Europeans.
• In the Middle Ages, surgery was developed to a high degree in the Islamic world, with renowned practitioners such as Abulcasis (Abu al-Qasim Khalaf ibn al-Abbas Al-Zahrawi), an Andalusian-Arab physician and scientist who practised in the Zahra suburb of Córdoba.
• In Europe, the demand grew for surgeons to formally study for many years before practicing; universities such as Montpellier, Padua and Bologna Universities were particularly renowned.
• By the fifteenth century – Rogerius Salernitanus composed his Chirurgia, laying the foundation for modern Western surgical manuals up to the modern time.
• Late in the nineteenth century, Bachelor of Surgery degrees (usually Ch.B.) began to be awarded with the (M.B.), and the mastership became a higher degree, usually abbreviated Ch.M. or M.S. in London, where the first degree was M.B.B.S

Modern surgery

• Modern surgery developed rapidly with the scientific era. Ambroise Paré (sometimes  spelled “Ambrose”) pioneered the treatment of gunshot wounds, and the first modern surgeons were battlefield doctors in the Napoleonic Wars.
•  Navalsurgeons were often barber surgeons, who combined surgery with their main jobs as barbers.
• Developments of modern surgical approaches – control of bleeding, control of infection and control of pain (anaesthesia), Cauterization , Ligatures, or material used to tie off severed blood vessels, are believed to have originated with Abulcasis in the 10th century and improved by Ambroise Paré in the 16th century.
• Finally, early 20th century research into blood groups allowed the first effective blood transfusions. The concept of infection was unknown until relatively modern times.
• Hungarian doctor Ignaz Semmelweis -Combating  infection was made in 1847.
• British surgeon Joseph Lister began experimenting with using phenol during surgery to prevent infections. Lister published his work as a series of articles in The Lancet (March 1867) under the title Antiseptic Principle of the Practice of Surgery.
• Pain –    Modern pain control (anesthesia) was discovered by two American Dental Surgeons, Horace Wells (1815-1848) and William Morton.
• In Britain by John Snow. Beginning in the 1840s, the discovery of effective and practical anaesthetic chemicals such as ether and chloroform. In addition, the discovery of muscle relaxants such as curare allowed for safer applications.

Types  of surgery

• Elective surgery
• Emergency.
•  Exploratory surgery
• Therapeutic surgery
• Amputation
• Replantation,
• Reconstructive surgery –
• Cosmetic surgery,
• Excision
• Transplant
• Minimally invasive surgery
• Laser surgery
• Microsurgery
• Bariatric surgery

Conditions treated by surgery

• Surgery is used to both as a treatment, and as an aspect of treatment, for many conditions, including:

Physical trauma, e.g. wounds

• Anatomical Abnormalities
• Disorders of function

Inflammation

Ischaemia and infarction

Metabolic disorders

Neoplasia

• Other abnormalities of tissue growth, e.g. cysts, hyperplasia or Organ hypertrophy, as well as some cancers, if caught early enough
• Deformity and heavy scarring.
• Brain damage and nerve damage

Homoeopathic view point

• Homeopathy is highly scientific, logical, safe, quick and extremely effective method of healing. It offers long lasting to permanent cure, treating the disease from its roots, for most of the ailments.
• Homeopathy is the most rational science with respect to its concepts of health, disease and cure. Homeopathy does not treat superficially by just driving away the symptoms but heals the patient from within.
• Undoubtedly, homeopathy is the medicine of future.
• The remedies are prepared from natural substances to precise standards and work by stimulating the body’s own healing power.
• Homeopathy: Often avoids Surgery,prevents complications – pre,during &post.
• Surgery comes into play when the physiological changes cannot be brought back to the normal position by medication. When the part becomes irreparable, we replace it or remove it & the condition improves E.g. when a tumor develops, not corrected by medicines we remove it by surgery.
• Disease primarily a disturbance in the vital force which is only functional in character when there is no apparent pathology & so surgery cannot be applied. If this disturbance persists for sometime & when the human being is not able to overcome the condition and it leads to gross pathological changes which may or may not be brought back to normalcy by medicines, wherein the role of surgery becomes of paramount importance.

• Pathology is the ultimate of the disease process and not the cause of the disease. Surgery eliminates the ultimate of the disease and not its cause. But this ultimate becomes a foreign matter which is an obstacle to cure & the complete recovery is not possible unless this obstacle is removed.

• So surgery does not deal with that something unknown which is residing in the body and which can not be located.

• But in case of injuries caused to the body from without, the surgical treatment is necessary only to the extent that the parts injured require mechanical aid whereby the external obstruction to cure is removed mechanically. But in such injuries also the living organism requires active dynamic aid to put it in a position to restore the organism to health and homoeopathic treatment is called for.

• On one hand surgery can play an important role in medicine since some conditions such as congenital deformities, structural problems, severe injuries, or life-threatening pathological conditions are simply not treatable without it.

• Homoeopathic surgery is that form of treatment where the so-called surgical cases can be averted, managed completely or helped in the pre-operative & post-operative stages with homeopathic medicines only.

Homoeopathy in pre and post surgery:
Surgery, at best, is an unpleasant process. Not only does the surgical wound cause pain, but general anesthesia causes its own side effects. Once it is established that surgery is necessary, homeopathic remedies can play a vital role in reducing any complications that may arise as well as accelerating healing and recovery.

Homeopathic remedies can help:
Reduce fear and anxiety prior to surgery

• Aconitum Napellus:
• Gelsemium

Excess bleeding during surgery,

If surgery poses the potential for a large loss of blood or undergoing intravenous (IV) therapy –   Arnica montana.

Stop Postoperative Bleeding:Cinchona officinalis,Ipecacuanha, Secale cornutum

Recovery of digestive function following surgery

Nausea and Vomiting:

• Phosphorus
• Ipecacuanha
• Arsenicum

Constipation: Arnica,China Raphanus,,

Phase Out Flatulence:

• Carbo vegetabilis
• Cinchona officinalis,
• Colocynthis

Raphanus : Swelling, Stiffness, pain, bruise and Soreness

• Ledum palustre
• Rhus toxicodendron
• Arinica
• Calendula.
• Staphysagria

Gynecological Surgery:• Abortion or Miscarriage: Ignatia 30C, every four hours.• Caesarean Section or Episiotomy:- Staphysagria 30C or Bellis perennis 30C, every four hours.

Dilation and curettage (D & C): Belladonna 30C, every 4 hours.
Hysterectomy: Causticum 30C, every four hours

• Orthopedic Surgery

• Ruta 30C

• Scarring

Thiosinaminum 6X,

Dr. P. Chakraborty BHMS, MD
Professor Dept of Surgery
Fr. Muller homoeopathic medical college