Colorectal surgery from antiquity to the modern era

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Abstract
COLORECTAL SL'RGERY, as a specialty, parallels the development of surgery in general. Homans 1 stated that man appears to differ from the four-footed animals in suffering from a great number of painful and disabling anorectal diseases. Whether these diseases were more prevalent in other times is unknown, but there are numerous records of treatment of anal and rectal diseases handed down to us by the ancients. The Egyptians The Ebers medical papyrus, c. 1700 B.c., gives 33 prescriptions or recipes for the treatment of anorectal diseases. These include ointments, suppositories, enemas and liniments, most of which had a fatty base, plus prescriptions for cathartics and vermifuges. The Beatty medical papyrus of the 12th and 13th century B.c. consists almost entirely of methods and remedies for treating colon and anorectal disease. The prescriptions contain such ingredients as honey, myrrh, flour, ibex fat, and rectal injections containing honey and sweet beer. 2 Banov, in his review, mentions 41 prescriptions found in the Beatty papyrus which were used to treat such conditions as pruritus ani, painful swelling (probably,~throm bosed hemorrhoids), and prolapse of the rectum. Study of this papyrus leads one to agree with Herodotus that there were specialists for colorectal diseases as well as for many other diseases.

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